German Court Says to Distinguish Clones from Remanufactured Cartridges

A judgment was made by a German court that a clear distinction between cloned and remanufactured cartridges being sold must be made.

The court’s decision means that selling of clone cartridges “without pointing out that this is not a remanufactured cartridge but newly manufactured replicas of toner cartridges” is forbidden. The court asserts that any other wording would be “misleading and therefore anti-competitive”. A fine of up to €250,000 ($340,000), detention or imprisonment for up to six months could be imposed on violation of the decision.

Vincent van Dijk, Director of ETIRA, said ETIRA welcomes this decision and they think it’s good for remanufacturers because it clarifies the difference between rebuilding of OEM cartridges and new-built non-OEM models. He said, “The judge tells sellers of these products that the public has the right to know that they are at risk when they buy infringing clones.”

And as was pointed out by Christian Wernhart, CEO of Swiss remanufacturer Embatex AG, new-built cartridges often have a poor quality because the plastic and the injection moulding is not as good as an empty OEM cartridge. He said,most of the consumers do not know the difference except for that there exists an OEM cartridge and an aftermarket cartridge and remanufacturers are regarded the same as the clone producer.

Thus, that’s the reason why the consumers must know if they are using a clone or a remanufactured cartridge in high quality.