Top 10 Printer and Imaging Supplies News Stories for April

Top 10 Printer and Imaging Supplies News Stories for April

HP featured in four of the top ten stories for the month. It has been in the news for all sorts of reasons this month. Some stories will make you cheer, others smile and yet others will get you groaning.

Firstly, the good news. HP gets the “thumbs up” for its very ambitious environment plan and in doing so, has validated the remanufacturing of printer cartridges as part of its strategy. HP will trial a program of providing consumers with “renewed”—or remanufactured—Instant Ink cartridges in Germany. Join the discussion on Linkedin.

Now for another kind of HP story. Following its €10 million (US$12.1 million) fine back in December 2020—for misleading and aggressive commercial practices against consumers in Italy—HP has warned its partners that third-party cartridge chips may not work in some HP printers in the future. Join the conversation on LinkedIn.

In order of reader clicks, these are the top 10 stories for April 2021.

HP Warns its Partners in Italy About Cartridge Chips : The OEM sent a strongly worded letter out to its partners in Italy. They were advised some HP printer models contain a dynamic security system that will only allow original HP cartridges and remanufactured cartridges that reuse the original HP security chips, to work. The printers will block any cartridge that uses a non-HP chip.
HPs April 1 Firmware Update is No Joke: Despite some media reports claiming HP’s April 1 firmware update “locks out certain aftermarket 903 cartridges,” chip manufacturers and distributors told RT Media they had not received any complaints about any negative impact on the printers of end-users. Not at this stage.
HP to Remanufacture Inks as Part of Bold New Climate Goals: On Earth Day (April 22) HP announced a range of new targets to achieve a “net-zero carbon, fully regenerative economy,” which included the launch of “renewed” (remanufactured) ink cartridges in Europe. HP says the initial trial group of Instant Ink customers in Germany will soon be able to choose to receive “renewed” Instant Ink cartridges.”
Quantore Left Holding the Bag After Turbon Deal Turns Sour: A Dutch court ruled back in April 2020 that Turbon Europe should pay Quantore more than €138,000 (US$163,000), but Quantore has said it has “been left with nothing.”
Candles For Those Who Miss the Smell of the Office Printer : “Eau D’Office” scented candles are for those office workers based at home and have not been into the office due to COVID-19 for a long time. Now they can light a candle and within minutes, the apartment can smell just like an overworked copier or laser printer.
Imaging Supplies Leader Remembers the Duke of Edinburgh: Steve Weedon (pictured) remembers meeting the Duke (and the Queen) at Buckingham Palace in London in 2003 when he was General Manager of Static Control Europe. Weedon, who won the Queen’s Award for Export is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Print-Rite Europe Limited and PRP Solutions GmbH—which sells Pelikan branded imaging consumables. At the time of the photo (above), Weedon was General Manager of Static Control Europe.
Ninestar Gets Serious About Bulk Ink: The Chinese-based manufacturer of new compatible inks for use in a wide range of printers has put a new automated production line into place to further improve the quality and the availability of inks released on its G&G supplies platform.
USITC Issues 5 Seizure and Forfeiture Orders for Brother Investigation: The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) issued five seizure and forfeiture orders to five defendants under the Brother 337 investigation including Amazon.com Services, Inc., Enlight Trading Inc., Princo Image Co. (USA) Inc., and two Zhuhai companies Exprinco Inc., and Thumbs Up Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.
TV Celebrity Chef Launches HP Ink Subscription Service: TV chef Manu Feildel is promoting HP’s new instant ink subscription service in Australia for as low as $2 a month based on the number of pages you print on average. HP’s new service is now available and goes up against Epson’s EcoTank and Canon’s MegaTank, along with Brother’s range of printing solutions but it is not clear whether HP will use its existing distributors and points of sale to distribute the inks and toners, or whether they will come directly from HP.
Dinglong Releases Fiscal Results for 2020: The China-based Dinglong group reported operating revenue of 1.82 billion RMB (US$277.78 million) for 2020, up 58.15% year-over-year, due to the combination of revenues from its subsidiaries Speed Infotech (Beihai) Company Limited (Speed) and Zhuhai Topcolor Image Products Inc (Topcolor).