Epson's lawsuit stop all compatiable cartridges! There will be no or very little compatiable cartridges available to the consumer. 

 

Epson has won a series of victories in its quest to cut down on the importation and manufacture of aftermarket inkjet cartridges for its products. The company just announced that it has signed settlement agreements with multiple defendants, all of whom acknowledge that they were in violation of Epson patents.

 

Epson has been pursuing these companies for months, filing lawsuits against them in federal court and bringing a complaint with the US International Trade Commission early this year. Many of the companies involved have now decided to settle rather than fight the patent infringement charges. All have agreed to stop importing many kinds of aftermarket cartridges for Epson printers, a move that could make it more difficult to get inexpensive refill cartridges.

 

Epson has been winning such cases around the world. Printer manufacturers traditionally follow the strategy made famous by Gillette, where the razor is sold cheaply (or at a loss) in order to make money on consumables like blades or in this case printer cartridges.

 

Cartridges made for most of Asia and Europe must be made so they can be refilled or recycled. Epson lost a lawsuit in Japan where Epson is from because in Japan everything has to be recycled.  HP and Canon have gone a different way. Canon has their own lock out chip and so far no one has been able to copy it. HP went to smaller cartridges with very little ink.

 

We will continue to offer our custom made refill kits and our Auto Refill Systems for most Epson, HP and Canon printers. We will offer our customers a way to keep their cost printing down.

Epson has one of the best photo printers and we still recommend their printers.