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| p2p Magaz i ne | Spr i ng 2013
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The march of the clones
Why OEMs and remanufacturers are united in their war against clones
have been collected, cleaned and reused,
clones are made with 100% new parts.
The second point is that they are
perfectly legal as long as they do not
infringe an OEM's intellectual property
(IP) or are marketed
as something they
are not (e.g. an
OEM original or
remanufactured
cartridge).
In this
respect, they
should not be
confused with
counterfeit consumables
that are passed off as original
OEM supplies in re-used or
forged OEM packaging.
That said, not all clones are
legally compliant. At Paperworld
2013 in Frankfurt, Germany, a
number of stands selling supplies
that infringed patents were raided by
customs officials; and in September
and October 2012, HP sent a total
of 44 ‘Cease and Desist’ letters to
resellers who were selling supplies
that it believed infringed its patents.
A big threat
HP estimates that there are about 100
clone manufacturers worldwide, mostly in
Asia, who sell their products to resellers in
Europe via the internet.
Clones are often (but not exclusively)
low priced, with high margins for resellers.
HP gave
Pen To Paper
the example of
an HP Q2612A compatible that was
being sold to the channel for 4.99 euros
and sold on to consumers for 21 euros.
This is half the cost of a remanufactured
cartridge (42 euros) and a third of the cost
of an HP original (67 euros).
Another advantage clone producers
have over remanufacturers is that because
their products are brand new, they don't
have to wait for empty OEM cartridges to
become available before they can produce
supplies for a new printer.
Leobert Faessler, HP LaserJet Supplies
Marketing Program Manager, said: “It
takes the remanufacturing industry 12-14
months until sufficient empty supplies
are available to remanufacture. Clone
cartridges are available two to three
months after the introduction of a new
printer.”
The quick lead times in clone
OEMs and remanufacturers make
unlikely bed-fellows, but the one area
in which they have common cause is
in their stand against clone cartridges
which pose a big threat to both camps’
business models.
So what exactly are clones and/or
compatibles?
The first point to make is that clones/
compatibles are newly manufactured.
Unlike remanufactured or refilled
cartridges made from OEM originals that
Armor draws parallels
between clone cartridges and
horsemeat in the food chain
Leobert Faessler:
Use common
sense
As well as using legal means
to protect their business
from counterfeits and clones,
several printer manufacturers
use incentives to encourage
customers to use OEM
original supplies instead of
remanufactured or compatible
cartridges.
Xerox, for example, has just
announced a loyalty program that
rewards customers for buying
genuine Xerox supplies. It should
be pointed out that Xerox also
sells compatible supplies for
competitors’ products.
Genuine Xerox Rewards gives
customers in the US points for
purchasing Xerox solid ink and
toner products that they can then
redeem from a choice of more
than 3 million products including
gift cards, music, movies, books,
travel and Xerox equipment.
The program will also validate
the authenticity of the products
so customers can be sure they are
purchasing genuine supplies and
not counterfeit items.
Customers who enrol in
the program earn 1,000 points
immediately, plus 100 points for
each eligible Xerox desktop printer
or MFP registered and one point
for every dollar spent on Xerox
supplies, whether bought from a
Xerox partner, reseller, retail store
or e-commerce site.
Lexmark offers a more limited
loyalty scheme for its colour laser
printers. The Lexmark Rewards
Programme gives customers one
point for every Lexmark toner
cartridge returned to the company
for recycling. Once they have
accumulated 10 points, they
receive a free high yield toner
cartridge. Like Xerox’s scheme,
customers get points for registering
a printer (2 points). Because the
printers are supplied with four
cartridges, customers effectively
only have to buy and use a further
four to qualify for a free cartridge.
Another way of ensuring that
original supplies are used is to
tie customers into fixed term
contracts. These range from fully
fledged managed print services
to simpler service and supplies
packages. An example of the
latter is Epson Print and Save, just
launched for Epson inkjet, laser and
large format printers.
Cheaper than buying service
and supplies separately, Epson
Print and Save gives customers a
pre-arranged number of printing
supplies over a 3-year contract,
plus an on-site warranty for
service and repairs – all for a fixed
monthly fee. The scheme can also
be used to spread the cost of new
printer purchases through monthly
rental payments.
Continued...
The carrot and the stick