Lexmark South Africa has come forward with clarifications about its parent company`s recent court injunction against Static Control in the US, days after widespread international and local reports on that court decision saw the light.
Lexmark asked for, and was granted, a preliminary injunction to keep Static from manufacturing and selling a chip that forced Lexmark printers to recognise generic components. In a separate development, Static then filed an anti-trust claim against Lexmark.
Commenting on the first claim, Lexmark says it wishes to stress the fact that the original hearing concerned laser cartridges (not inkjet cartridges), and is keen to dispel any impression that Lexmark does not afford its customers sufficient choice.
Hans Horn, Lexmark SA country manager, says: "Lexmark gives its customers a choice when it comes to purchasing our cartridges: they can buy them at the full price, and since the cartridge is then theirs, they can sell it to a remanufacturer, dump it or give it back to us for recycling. It is entirely up to them.
"If, however, they buy at our discount rates, they buy the content [toner], and the cartridge still belongs to Lexmark. When they return this to us [for recycling], they honour their side of the bargain, but they cannot give it away to a refiller, because there is technology in the cartridge that disallows its use in a Lexmark printer. It will not be recognised."
Horn points out that the first option does not make use of this technology, since in that case the cartridge belongs to the customer.
Horn adds that this shows Lexmark does not deny its customers the option of refilling if they so desire. "In addition, suggestions that this could hurt the local industry are possibly mistaken," he says. "The most visible instances of remanufacturing involve inkjet technology, and our programme involves laser technology."
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