Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
Scientists Develop a New Printing Method Not Involving Ink
Virtually everyone who owns a printer these days worries about the rising prices of the cartridges. It doesn’t even matter if those cartridges contain ink or toner.
The prices keep going up and people’s worries keep increasing along with the rates.
Whether you believe that the printer cartridge market is artificially inflated or toner and ink components are naturally expensive, it’s undeniable that the prices can’t keep rising indefinitely. Something’s got to give sooner or later.
It seems that that something is on its way as a group of scientists at the Missouri University of Science and Technology has discovered a way to print without using either toner or ink.
Those of you with an optimistic mindset will most probably see this new printing technology as the silver lining in the cloud of your printing future. In contrast, those of you with a cynical mindset may think that this new printing technology will probably take years to become available to the common man, if it ever does that is. Both of you will be right.
This new printing technology has only been tested at the microscopic level. What does that mean? It means that the scientists at the Missouri University of Science and Technology have only been able to work this new printing technology under an electron microscope.
The scientists’ first successful print with this new printing technology was the logo of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. The logo of the university was extremely small. In fact, it measured only a billionth of a meter which amounts to approximately 50 micrometre.
The big question is how does this ink and toner less printing technology actually work? The answer lies in the physics of light absorption. While the in-depth science behind the technology is difficult to grasp, it can be explained in a simple manner.
This ink and toner less printing technology basically depends on the dynamics of how light absorbed by a material in different situations. At the core of this printing technology is the special type of paper.
This special type of paper is nothing like the traditional paper that we’re used to using. Instead, it is a sandwich like structure consisting of silver as the outer layers and silica as the inner layer. The thickness of this special type of paper is only about 170 nanometres thick.
The new printing technology’s process involves drilling precise holes into the top silver layer of the new type of paper. When light is shone through these holes, the image is produced. The image can be given colours by playing with the size, density, and location of the holes being drilled.
By varying various physical qualities of the holes, the scientists could control which wavelength of light these holes would let through. This allowed them to produce colours without using ink or toner.
The colours that the scientists managed to produce by playing with the above mentioned metrics of the holes include navy blue, cyan, magenta, orange, green, and gold. In the simplest of terms, this printing technology works by creating extremely small holes in the specific type of paper.
Even though it may be a while before this fledgling technology becomes commercially viable enough to be available in open markets, it’s still a step in the right direction since ink and toner cartridges are considered to be damaging to the environment.
More importantly and more relevantly, the threat of a new technology being developed may push Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to reduce the prices of their cartridges. One can hope.
Canon Goes After Aftermarket Companies in US Regarding Toner Bottle Patents
Although the news of an ink and toner free printing method made us hopeful that OEMs would perhaps reduce their cartridges prices out of fear, the hope was minuscule.
In any case, Canon seems to have completely disregarded new technological developments in the printing arena by doing something that it has been doing for a while – go after aftermarket cartridge companies and scare them into settling.
The latest organisations to come into the crosshairs of the printer manufacturing giant are General Plastic Industrial Co. Ltd. from Taiwan and Color Imaging Inc. from Georgia, United States of America.
Canon has initiated proceedings against these two companies by simply complaining to the US International Trade Commission. The Canon complaint involves the import of specific types of toner bottles which are currently used in Canon’s imagePress, imageRUNNER ADVANCE, and imageRUNNER machines.
The complaint is simple. Canon wants the import of these toner bottles to be banned along with complete prohibition on their sale in the United States. This case falls strictly under the Intellectual Property contention or patent related disputes.
Canon has been going after aftermarket companies for a while now. It started its drive in 2013 when it went after AllCopy Products. AllCopy Products and Canon had settled that case outside of the courts simply because AllCopy Products couldn’t compete with the kind of resources that the giant OEM could’ve mobilised.
Effectively, the out of court settlement involved AllCopy Products stopping the sale of products where patency laws come into play. Another similar settlement occurred about two months later i.e. December 2013 when Canon and Parsia International agreed to similar terms between them.
The latest such case that Canon had initiated and settled was against PPC Solutions Ltd. of the United Kingdom. The settlement between PPC Solutions and Canon occurred in April last year. The terms of the settlement were the same as the others.
Apart from these two companies, Canon is currently handling a patent infringement case against no less than 33 aftermarket organisations including manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in the Southern District Court of New York.
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