Federal Court Rejects Kodak’s Ink Pricing Conduct

In an antitrust case proposed by Collins Inkjet, the Ohio federal court imposed a preliminary injunction upon Eastman Kodak. In this case, Kodak was accused of suppressing competition for Versamark printer ink.

According to Law360, U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett blocks Kodak from “charging customers more for refurbished printheads if they bought their ink from Cincinnati-based Collins instead of directly from Kodak”. Also, Judge Barrett has filed a full opinion imposing the injunction affixed with seal and has given both parties until March 20 to put forward any revision.

On the other hand, Collins attorney W. B. Markovits of Markovits Stock & DeMarco LLC revealed the judge concluded the plaintiff had been “irreparably harmed” by the alleged behavior and would likely succeed.

As was revealed, Collins, once one of Kodak’s key suppliers, and Kodak, are the two sole suppliers of inkjet inks used in Kodak’s Versamark digital inkjet printing presses. As Kodak entered bankruptcy in January 2012, Collins terminated the contracts that May. Realizing that Collins customers tended to stay with or shift to Collins, Kodak informed Collins’ customers in May that the price for refurbished printheads would go up if they use non-Kodak inks. The price hike has made it difficult for customers to use Collins’ products. Collins incurred further harm since August 2012, with Kodak implementing more pricing policies using Collins’ ink.