HP Launches Ink Patent Violation Manhunt

BlueCup writes to tell us that Hewlett-Packard has deployed a large team consisting of many scientists and many more lawyers looking for possible ink patent infringement. With more than 4,000 patents on their ink formulations and cartridge design and a market share of more than 50 percent in the US HP depends heavily on the sale of ink to make profit after sometimes selling their printers at a loss in order to lock in the ink resale.

it's come to this for HP

[yagu]

So, now HP needs to chase down violators to protect itself. If only HP had continued to pay attention to quality, maybe HP would not need to worry about this kind of activity.

Fifteen years ago, the only brand of printer I would buy was HP. Partly because HP was on point, but also because I'd always associated HP with quality as job one (actually, I guess that was supposed to be Ford). HP calculators, printers, electrical instruments, all quality products for years I'd faithfully used with trust.

Then came the second HP printer I'd ever bought, a deskjet, and I don't remember its model number. I do remember it suddenly either would pick up no sheets of paper for printing, or pick up 2 or 3 at a time. The fix?

I give HP credit, they did offer a fix. But it involved a scary piece of software and an even scarier piece of hardware with steel wool pads (I'm not kidding) you had to insert into the feed rollers -- and when all was done, you had a better performing (not perfect) printer and a heck of a mess to clean up. (Though I did get a free dental appointment once by bringing in my contraption and applying the HP "fix" to their HP printer!)

An anomaly?, a tiny blip on the radar? Nope. The next printer I bought, also HP Deskjet, fell apart so many times because of cheap plastic assembly I became an expert in the insides of the machine.

Still, I faithfully recommended HP printers to friends and family, but there were a disturbingly large and consistent number of "incidents" with these new printers. They were either balky in their performance, had ink problems, were virtually impossible to install, or keep installed. I gave up on HP about three or four years ago. Sadly, it's tinged my opinion of HP in general, from HP-UX, to HP-41X RPN calculators, probably unfairly since I think they still make some of the best electronics.

HP decided to go the route of making money on their printer ink, and sell their printers sometimes below cost -- that's kind of the disposable razor idea -- not necessarily a bad idea, but if it comes at the sacrifice of making reliable printers, I'm out.

HP's obsession with cost cutting, chasing down patent cheaters, etc., these are not the signatures of a class technology company.

HP ink?

[Cybert4]

So it was HP ink? Have you always used HP ink? I really don't think that's on purpose.

Um..

[zyl0x]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for them?

Re:it's come to this for HP

[gstoddart]

So, now HP needs to chase down violators to protect itself. If only HP had continued to pay attention to quality, maybe HP would not need to worry about this kind of activity.

Well, given that 80% of their $5.6 billion in operating profit (from TFA) is derived from ink and toner, they are not going to allow it to slip away. Otherwise they could potentially lose about $4bn in profit.

I'm not defending it, cause I don't agree with it. But they're not going to let that bone go any time soon.

Cheers.

This business model leads to bizarre situations

[John Jorsett]

A friend of mine recently discovered that it was cheaper to buy her same model printer on sale than to buy a replacement cartridge for her existing printer. She couldn't bring herself to toss a perfectly good printer just to get the cartridge cheaper, but the temptation was there. I'll bet many other people don't have the same compunctions about this sort of waste.

When you hire more lawyers than scientists

[Anonymous Coward]

...you prove you are more interested in litigation than innovation.

What a way to show confidence in your business.

[SpecTheIntro]

Really, could HP have more prominently declared that their traditional business model was failing miserably? After all, why try and provide a good or a service unsuccessfully, when you can just throw some patents around and generate instant income? The quality of HP products is no longer in question, because they've dealt their own credibility a far worse blow than any other competitor (or exploding battery) could ever do: they have consciously decided to invest in patent trolling, instead of spending that money on providing better products/service. Way to go, HP. Been taking business lessons from Sony?

Re:This business model leads to bizarre situations

[frieked]

Read the fine print... most of those cheapo printers usually only come with half-capacity ink cartridges as 1: a means of cutting costs and 2: to prevent people who are willing to just toss the perfectly good printer just because of cheaper cartridge costs.

Feeling the Heat from Canon

[Anonymous Coward]

I was at Fry's Electronics recently and checked out some of the printers. Apparently, you can buy a Canon printer for roughly the price of an HP printer.

What is interesting is that the replacement ink cartridge for Canon costs 67% less than the replacement ink cartridge for HP. The sales critter explained that the HP cartridge is actually integrated into a new printer head: the net is that you must buy both the replacement ink and a new printer head, resulting in the higher cost.

However, printer heads generally last a long time. In the long run, you will save substantial money if you buy the Canon printer.

The Canon printers must be hurting HP in less-affluent countries: Thailand, Eastern Europe, etc.

For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for HP.

Re:Perhaps..

[Mister Whirly]

My general rule of thumb is - the more you spend initially on the printer, the less the consumables usually are. That $80 inkjet will use $100 worth of ink in a year, but my $400 laser printer uses about $40 of toner a year...You can either pay now, or pay later...

Re:Perhaps..

[tylernt]

Agreed. I also have a little laser printer, I think it was a bit over $100 but it's probably close to 2 years old and I'm still only on my second toner cartridge. It's heaps faster than an inkjet and the print won't smudge or smear... ever. Laser printers rock.

Re:Perhaps..

[IAR80]

The huge color laser printer where I work costed me 0$ when bought and the consumables cost me 0$ a year.

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http://world4.monstersgame.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=47010 693 [monstersgame.co.uk]

Re:Perhaps..

[Kancept]

Why not just buy a color laser? They are fairly cheap these days. I have a color laser, and a sprinkling of B&W lasers. I pretty much only use the color laser. When I have the need to do pure B&W, I use the older lasers, but in general I forget t change which printer it prints to.

Tractor feeds rule

[IamWhoIam]

I purchased an Okidata microline 590 way way back in the early 90's. I still use it for all my black and white printing. This Printer has worked flawlessly for years and has followed me from computer to computer just like a faithful dog. Not only is the paper cheap but at 4 million characters per tape refill which costs a whopping 8 bucks. There is just no way you can beat it for efficiency.