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Posted: 9/4/2005 5:47:26 PM EDT
www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/2005/09/02/the_latest_ip_crime_boxwrap_patent_infringement.php September 02, 2005 The Latest IP Crime: "Box-Wrap" Patent Infringement What's that, you ask? Evidently, it's when you ignore the terms written on the side of Lexmark printer cartridge box, refilling the cartridge with ink even when the company has designated it "single use only." According to the Ninth Circuit ruling [PDF] this week in ACRA v. Lexmark, opening the package means you agree to Lexmark's wishes. And if you break that agreement, you could face claims under contract and patent law. As Fred von Lohmann explains it, it's sort of like when you buy those fancy Gillette Sensor razors, then purchase cheap replacement razor heads -- except that a court has ruled that if the package says "single use," then by opening it you've agreed you can't have any cheap replacements (but you can buy another Gillette "single use" razor). And that means the company that makes the replacement heads is out of luck, too. Writes Fred: [The strategy here is] a variant on the "shrinkwrap license" that used to appear plastered on software. Lexmark is bringing this practice to the world of patented goods. If you step outside the bounds of the "contract" (by giving your spent cartridge to a remanufacturer), you're suddenly a patent infringer. More importantly, Lexmark can sue cartridge remanufacturers for "inducing" patent infringement by making and selling refills. Yes, Lexmark is the company that already tried and failed to control the printer cartridge after-market using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Contract and patent law are clearly proving more amenable. The question is, how will the ruling impact the way companies do business in the future? Asks Fred: Will patent owners exploit this decision as an opportunity to impose over-reaching restrictions on formerly permitted post-sale uses, repairs, modifications, and resale? Will consumers soon confront "single use only, not for resale" notices on more and more products? Will innovators stumble over labels announcing "modifications prohibited"? Obviously, we can't know yet. But the danger is there. |
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Screw Lexmark and their cheap crap. They're choosing to make a buck by trying to screw me, so I choose not to buy their crap.
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My lexmark is 5 1/2 years old, still running great. My HP printer/scanner/fax died after 1 year.
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I haven't found a printer that would last more than a year or so, so when my last one broke in 2003 I said the hell with it and haven't had one since.
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They do make good printers, but the difficulty in finding knock off replacement cartridges plus their constant legislation such as this means I'm going for Epson, Canon or HP the next time I need a color printer.
Ed |
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I guess you all should know that HP owns Lexmark. Also, new cartridges have experation dates inbedded in the cartridge that the computer reads and will warn you about before shutting your printer down. My father learned this the hard way this week.
It's their world we just live in it. |
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Of course this is just like auto parts, replacement razors, and the like. They don't make much money on the car, the razor, or the printer. They make money on the parts you NEED to keep the machine working. I don't doubt some people will post saying this is perfectly within their rights and that you WOULD be a criminal if you refilled your cartridges. Fuck Lexmark and moreso the 9th circus court of appeals. |
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Does this mean they will ban the sellign of do it yourself refill kits?
What the hell is the USofA coming to? |
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I read an article somewhere that said if you were to build a Ford Taurus out of factory replacement parts it would cost over $80,000. |
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No offense but so what? It's the Ninth Circus. When a circuit court that isn't completely full of shit makes the same ruling, I will be concerned.
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One part is, you cant run a business to supply refills. So then the other half becomes true, where will you get the refill supplys/services? They win. |
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Yes, but it's enforceable shit. Maybe some day, they'll send storm troopers to kill families over refilled ink cartridges the way they do misshapen wood. |
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I noticed that it was the 9th. They also ruled that it's okay to construct your own single use sub-gun useing homegrown parts (just try telling the BATFE that). |
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I guess you should know that HP does NOT own Lexmark. Both are publically traded companies listed on the NYSE as HPQ and LXK, respectively. Lexmark does pay some royalties to HP for use of a patent (at list one that I'm aware of). Perhaps that is where the confusion lies. |
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They can have my refill kit when they pry it from my cold dead hands.
I've been reloading HP and now Canon cartridges for years and years - it's good for the enviornment! |
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OMG now we have to worry about the PRINTER CARTRIDGE POLICE!! hell I just tore of my fabric tages of my pillows and sheets!!
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Ever since Lexmark first started their crap against Static Control Components under the DMCA, I've actively warned everyone I know with a computer to avoid buying Lexmark products like the toner contains Leprecy. The average computer owner understands that cheap is good, and gets as pissed as I do that Lexmark is going to court to keep cheap cartridges off the market. I hope I can get more people to do the same.
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I paid for it and it is mine and that means i will put anything i wish in there.
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Well according to the Service reps from HP they do own them. When we made the comment about getting lexmarks instead or HP's from now on due to their expiration dates, they said, "go ahead we own them too." perhaps they were lying, but either way both companies are fucking us royally and not even using lube. |
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Dell's "free" printers are rebaged Lexmarks.
10 to 1 most of the "free" printers that are "given away" with computer deals are rebadge Lexmarks. |
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Mis-shapen wood? |
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Quoted:
My lexmark is 5 1/2 years old, still running great. My HP printer/scanner/fax died after 1 year.[/quote] so did mine after my little girl ripped the guts out of it. |
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This case will get overruled quickly.
Imagine when all of the amunition manufacturers start stamping "single use only" on brass. As long as they don't violate any patents, non-OEM replacement parts have always been legal. If this was to stand, everything from car parts to water bottles will start having "single use only" printed on them. As long as the refill ink manufacturer hasn't copied the manufacturer's patented ink forumla, you are just putting ink into a plastic container. |
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Instead, I will buy recycling kits - yeah, they are the same as refill kits, but I save the environment (libs like that).
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So fuck 'em back...
Start buying their cheap $30 printers every time you run out of ink (you know, the printer that costs less than it's refill cartridges).... |
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Dis is vat happens ven you give corporations die same rrights as people.
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Buy a cheap laser for printing. Got a Samsung ML-1740 laser for under $90. No color, but fast and quiet, plus the ink never dries up. The only time I do color is pictures, and Wally World, and near everyone else will do pictures on pro machines better than I can with the best paper for $0.15 each.
Or like someone else said, buy a new cheap-ass inkjet everytime the ink is gone. It's just as price effective. |
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So which is it?
One guy says it is illegal to refill your own. This is BS, because once you buy it, you can do whatever you want with it. They have zero control over you refilling your own. Another guy says it is illegal for a company to remanufacture and resell. That is completely different, as it is selling, for profit, technology using Lexmark technology. That is illegal. I think someone misread something. |
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Open post to Lexmark and the 9th Circuit fuckstains.
I just refilled my Lexmark ink cartridge with aftermarket ink and it works great. FOAD! |
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Mines over 10 years old (knocking on wood). |
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Wow, wait until the ammunition manufacturers get ahold of this.
Reloading will become a crime! |
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Yep. Definitely in the running for Worst Governmental Decision Ever. Jim |
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Of course they have control. You can't just refill the cartridge, you have to figure out some way to re-enable the cartridge chip, or to disable the cartridge chip checking in the printer. And that's a violation of DMCA, since you're circumventing a protection device. Jim |
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Pre-Ban cartridges.... |
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I just got out of 2-5 for tearing the tag off a matteress.
Be careful, guys. They mean business! |
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Randy Weaver's wife & son were murdered by gov't agents over a shotgun stock that was 1/4" too short. That's a gross simplification, but true -- sorry for the thread hijack. Now back to ridiculous inkjet rules. |
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You don't need to send it to a ship to refill it. I had an empty cartrige (it was, I believe, an HP), and instead of paying $50 for a new one I drilled a hole in the top, put some more ink in and closed the hole with some scotch tape.
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i had the misfortune of having to work on lexmark printers when they were a division of IBM. they were junk then and have become remarkably worse since they left. wouldn't touch anything with the lexmark logo on it with a 10' pole.
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"You ain't puttin' THAT in there, suckah. I charge 1000 an hour for that." Maybe the rumor of the 2,000,000 capacity FEMA concentration camp in Alaska is true. I'm a razor blade desperado. Do you think they'll let me bring my fly rod up and try for some greyling? If I'm a trusty can I pack a S&W 500 mag for the grizzlies? No more bizzare than KELO |
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I could never get refills to work anyway, and with the cost of ink carts. I usually just throw out the printer when they go dry and buy a new one. I'll go buy whichever printer is still on sale and it will cost less than replacement carts.
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Without turning this into a Ruby Ridge shitstorm (too late ), it was the barrel that was too short, not the stock. |
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