Epson patent smartchip; is this the death knell for third party cartridges? December 29, 2010 17:02 by John Sollars

In September of 2010 Epson revealed that it had been granted a European patent for a smartchip that could not be reset or even replaced in any Epson cartridge, effectively meaning that every Epson cartridge containing one of these chips would never be able to be remanufactured.

The refilling process would, under the Epson patent EP 1 997 641 B1, be termed a new process, and so the empty cartridges would need to be destroyed after use.

Whilst the patent has only recently been granted to the OEM, and the chips are not currently in production, this new development is one that could effectively remove Epson’s cartridges from use by remanufacturers and third party compatible manufacturers.

No other OEM’s have patented similar chips, but if Epson are successful then this could prove to be a very important milestone on the road to removing consumer choice and you can be sure that people at HP, Canon, Lexmark et al will be watching with great interest.

Will this mean the end of the ‘Razor Blade’ model, where the printers are sold below cost and the consumables are where the profit resides?

With major players like Samsung being one of the top chip manufacturers in the world it should be relatively easy for them to develop similar chips, and indeed they are currently suing a South Korean company for infringements of their own cartridge chips, claiming that TNIRP had violated patents with compatible smart chips and resetting devices.

Or will this simply amplify the pricing in the market? Printers given away for free, cartridge prices rising even higher with no compatible-alternatives offering choice and competition? Either way, this does not bode well for customers wallets.