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ETIRA 10th ANNIVERSARY MEETING, 28-29 JUNE 2012, NICE, FRANCE
In June 2012, ETIRA will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Nice, France. Organized jointly with The Recycler,the 2-day event will be a great opportunity for learning while meeting and greeting fellow industry-members. And by the way: bring your bathing suit (and your partner…..) !
For full date/venue details and online-registration (available mid-April) simply click here:
http://www.regonline.com/register/checkin.aspx?eventid=1074467 and register your attendance ! The regular participation fee is only 100 euro/person*, but ETIRA Member delegates and their partners receive a 50% discount per person if you register early and use the discount code “ETIRAFOE2012“ . NB: Registration is easy if you attended last year’s show: then you just ned to input your e-mail address.As the computer system will have captured your details, you just need to reconfirm them and you’re all set for 2 (or more !) great days of work and pleasure on the Cote d’ Azur !
*please note the (discounted) participation fee is also payable by “Dinner Only”-guests, and in case of only partial attendance, etc.
SAMSUNG AND HP TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST PATENT-INFRINGING NEWBUILTS
In February 2012, printer giant Samsung started the first of a series of legal actions against the trade in patent-infringing newbuilt cartridges in Europe. About 30 to 40 companies in Spain, France, Holland, Germany, UK and other countries have received warning letters from lawyers of the OEM. According to Samsung, many of the China-built clone cartridges sold by these companies infringe one or more of their patents. Samsung tells the firms to immediately stop the sale and pay damages.
Also HP has taken similar action in March 2012: in Spain, HP’s lawyers have written to over 30 firms that trade patent-infringing newbuilt inkjet cartridges. The firms are ordered to stop the sale and destroy any available products, and indemnify HP for lost profits.
ETIRA welcomes these legal actions: as a group representing remanufacturers of used OEM cartridges, we have long called on OEM’s to act against patent-infringing newbuilts. We are happy to see that OEMs are now finally taking legal action. And ETIRA has always warned distributors and resellers in Europe trading these products that they would be taken to court and would have to pay heavy fines if they do not respect legitimate patents.
ETIRA at 2012 remanxexpo trade show fights patent-infringing clones
Busy networking at ETIRA booth and Sunday Cocktail
In January 2012, ETIRA again exhibited throughout the 4 days at the 2012 remanexpo trade show. This largest European show for office supplies was held 28-31 January 2012 at Frankfurter Messe in Frankfurt, Germany.
We met with Members and prospects and distributed flyers urging visitors to buy remanufactured and services from ETIRA Members only. Another flyer also warned European resellers and buyers to be careful when buying imported newbuilt toners from Asia: if these infringe OEM-patents, buyers will be sued by OEMs. Moreover, many such cartridges have no end-of-life solution so they go straight to landfill after 1st use and pollute the European environment. And some are even falsely labeled, which is a criminal offense !
ETIRA also signed up several new Members at remanexpo.
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Members and prospect Members also gathered for drinks and great networking at the ETIRA remanexpo Cocktail on Sunday evening, which had a record turn-out of 90 attendees …….
September 2011: ETIRA/ Recycler/UKCRA cartridge remanufacturing industry meeting in London draws record turn-out !
On 15/16 September, European cartridge remanufacturers and their business partners met in London for 2 days of networking and learning. Over 105 delegates (a record !) made their way to the UK capital to hear the latest market developments from industry expert David Connett, publisher of Recycler PE. Among the Speakers was Peter Mayhew from Lyra, the specialized market intelligence firm, who addressed the industry's future: even though the general economy is stil struggling, imaging may have left the worst behind it. MSE's Mark Dawson gave his views on the colour toner outlook, while Ove Jansson from Nordic Ecolabel briefed the floor on their new criteria. French broker LVL CEO Philippe Guenin gave an update on how reman/OEM cooperation regarding the collection of empties may avoid adverse waste rules in France. Static's Ken Lalley showed how they help the industry move forward and grow overall market share.
Delegates appreciated the great networking: with so many remanufacturers, toner/ink suppliers, materials' and service suppliers, brokers, and even a few OEM rep's attending the meeting, there were many new bizz opportunities !
Many thanks to event organisers Recycler magazine, and kind sponsors Static Control, Promax Imaging, Delacamp and MSE !
ETIRA meeting in London fights toner clones that infringe OEM patents and wind up in European landfills
ETIRA also held its General Assembly in London. The association members quickly dealt with the usual statutory matters, but extensively talked about a major market challenge: newbuilt non-OEM toners from SE Asia. These cartridges are flooding the European market at unsustainably low price levels, and many are even falsely labeled as "remanufactured". In addition, many infringe OEM-patents and have no end-of-life solution, so they just wind up in the European landfill sites, polluting our environment.
ETIRA Members agreed that the "race to the bottom"-pricing by the newbuilt Asian non-OEM toners could turn Europe into the dumping ground for Asian products in two ways: on the one hand remanufacturers can no longer compete, so our lower returns prevent us to invest in our environment-friendly technology. On the other hand we see European landfill sites clogging up with Asian empties that cannot be remanufactured because remanufacturing them also infringes the OEM patent !
This situation is not acceptable in the long run. ETIRA will enhance its efforts to counter this development, by alerting buyers and reaching out to EU- and national authorities.
ETIRA also appointed 2 new Members of its Board of Directors for the remainder of the current Board mandate (until mid-2012).
Given the full agenda of current Board Member and Armor CEO Mr Pierre-Yves Léger, his role on the Board will now be fulfilled by Armor veteran Régis Thébaud (pictured, left).
Mr Jan Luijks, founder/owner of Cartrec, The Netherlands (pictured,right) was appointed to replace Mr Kees Uppenkamp.
Congratulations to both !
As per our statutes, elections of the Board of Directors is done every other year. The next full renewal will be at ETIRA's 2012 general meeting.
At Zhuhai Conference, ETIRA calls for sustainable pricing and end to false labelling
Upon invitation of the organisers, ETIRA’s Vincent van Dijk (pictured) addressed an industry conference (“GRIGA”) held 25 September 2010 in Zhuhai, China. GRIGA is a platform initiated by Asian industry members, and seeks to unite the global cartridge remanufacturing industry to promote our products and faciliate business.
In his address, van Dijk outlined what ETIRA stands for, and how it services its Members in growing markets and their businesses. ETIRA also adressed latest market developments and challenges currently facing the European cartridge remanufacturers. We mentioned in particular the recent flood of imports of low-priced newbuild products from SE Asia, which has taken a large market share away from both OEM’s and the remanufacturing industry. In some East-European countries, the aftermarket-share is over 50%, so even larger than original, but this mainly concerns newbuilds. Some of the newbuilds are incorrectly labeled as “remanufactured”, thus benefiting from the “environment-friendly’ reputation without doing the work for it or providing the greenhouse gas emission savings. Moreover, some newbuilds infringe patents from the printer manufacturer, and hence remanufacturing them would be an offense and a financial liability to the remanufacturer.
ETIRA calls on buyers to source only genuinely remanufactured cartridges as provided by its Members.
Newbuilt cartridges incorrectly labeled as remanufactured:
Today, some non-OEM imported cartridges are not properly labeled. They are labeled as “remanufactured” or as “re-used” or alike, but in reality these products are imported newly built cartridges, mostly imported from SE Asia. Often these cartridges also infringe OEM-patents. The OEM’s are paying growing attention at these products, and they will take legal action to stop these imports.
But also our industry suffers financial damage, because customers believe that they are “being green” when buying these cartridges, yet in reality they are buying new cartridges! The wrongly-labeled newbuilts hence take advantage of the remanufactured “brand”, without doing the work for it, or providing its environmental benefits.
ETIRA has taken action against these newbuilt products claiming to be remanufactured. We have sued a number of companies and webshops in Europe. Where ever we have found these products, we wrote to the supplier(s) involved and insisted on an end to their trade. In several cases we have taken legal action which resulted in an a large fine for the selling company.
SO BE GREEN, NOT BLACK: buy only remanufactured from ETIRA Members (see the list under "Find Members"-section on this website)
Re-use your cartridges: Less expensive and environment-friendly !!
When a printer cartridge has been fully used, it can be remanufactured to be used again several times. This is a cost-effective and environmental-friendly alternative to buying a new cartridge.
On this website you will find all the information you need about the remanufacturing of cartridges.
ETIRA
ETIRA is short for European Toner & Inkjet Remanufacturers Association. ETIRA represents the interests of the European inkjet and toner cartridge remanufacturers and related service providers/compatibles manufacturers, etc. in Europe. Created in 2003, ETIRA members now account for over 40% of industry turnover. Today, ETIRA is the recognized industry body for all topics affecting cartridge remanufacturing. A non-profit organisation in accordance with Belgian law, its statutory seat is Brussels, with a Secretary General's office in Breda, The Netherlands.
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Read ETIRA's 2010 report for a full overview of our activities !
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For the 4th time in only 2 years, independent German tests confirm top-quality of non-original cartridges !
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EU Commission prefers recycled cartridges - Click here (see page 32) !
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Want to join ETIRA ? Click here
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