This Week in Imaging: How IKON, Lanier, Savin Acquisitions Have Made a Tough Road for Ricoh

At first it seemed the acquisition of IKON would only be a boon for Ricoh. After all, IKON was said to be the world’s largest independent provider of copier/MFPs, printers, and related services, with over 400 offices in North America and Western Europe, regional sales and service training facilities, a roster of Fortune 500 customers, and revenues of $4,167 million for its fiscal year before it was purchased by Ricoh.

Printer, Ink, and Toner Sales Soar at Amazon

“While leading retail chains struggle to stay afloat, Amazon is seeing strong growth across the board in sales of office appliances, like printers, scanners and shredders, as well as consumables and office accessories,” commented Nathan Rigby, vice president of sales and marketing for One Click Retail.

U.S. ITC to Investigate Canon’s Patent-Infringement Allegations Against Third-Party Toner-Cartridge Sellers

Canon filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Static Control in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on February 28th, alleging that Static Control’s replacement toner cartridges and imaging drums designed for use in Canon and HP laser printers infringe on Canon’s patents.

This Week in Imaging: HP Takes Printing from Offices, to Dorm Rooms, Factories, Car-Wrap Shops, and More

As for HP’s new Latex Series R printers announced this week, they’ll be able to print on rigid materials for producing items such as car wraps, wall coverings, canvas prints, outdoor and indoor signs, etc.

HP Expanding Wide-Format Latex Printer Family with New Latex R Series

Thom Brown, chief inkologist, at HP Inc., commented: “White ink has been a consistent problem for the industry. Traditionally it uses bigger and heavier pigment particles that frequently clog print heads, or the opaque mixture becomes separated and settles to the bottom of the ink reservoir.”