Ink Splash: A Blog from Ink Technologies

Public Notification – 04/30/2021

Dayton, OH, April 30th, 2021 – Canon Inc. and Ink Technologies Printer Supplies, LLC have resolved their pending lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio regarding Ink Technologies' alleged infringement of Canon's U.S. Patent Nos. 10,209,667; 10,289,060; 10,289,061; 10,295,957; 10,488,814; 10,496,032; 10,496,033; 10,514,654; 10,520,881; and 10,520,882, with Ink Technologies agreeing to a Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction that prohibits it from making, using, selling, and offering for sale in the U.S., and from importing into the U.S., the toner supply containers that Canon accused of infringement.

Epson Inkjet Firmware Upgrades

Epson has released a number of new firmware updates that are designed to block the use of third-party ink cartridges. The error message may say the cartridge is damaged or not recognized.

Epson, among other manufacturers, has a tendency to push firmware upgrades intentionally to reject third party cartridges, thus forcing customers to buy the far more expensive OEM cartridges.

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Public Notification – 08/23/2018

August 23rd, 2018–Canon Inc. and Ink Technologies Printer Supplies, LLC have resolved their pending lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio regarding Ink Technologies's alleged infringement of Canon's U.S. Patent No. 9,581,958 B2. To resolve the lawsuit, Ink Technologies has stipulated to a consent judgment and permanent injunction that prohibits it from making, importing, using, selling, and offering for sale the toner cartridges that Canon accused of infringement, including models HE-CF360X, HE-CF361X, HE-CF362X, and HE-CF363X. As part of the resolution, Ink Technologies also agreed to pay Canon an undisclosed amount.

Remove Firmware that blocks Remanufactured Ink

HP has recently updated a list of printers that block the use of third party ink cartridges and gives the user an error message stating that the cartridge is "damaged".

This is an attempt for HP to force consumers to use Genuine HP ink cartridges instead of saving money by using our less expensive, high quality remanufactured ink cartridges. If you experience this message while using a third party cartridge, there is a simple fix to this problem.

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Fight Cancer – Light the Night Celebration 2014

Ink Technologies and team "Remember the Fallen, Fight the War(ner)" are celebrating another successful year of fundraising for the LLS Light the Night walk, raising over $17,000 in 2014 for the fight against blood cancer! A cure is in sight!

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How To Clean Printer Ink Off Your Hands and Skin

Replacing ink cartridges is usually a pretty simple and clean process, but once in a great while, disaster happens! You remove the old cartridge and printer ink leaks onto your hands, your skin, and possibly everything else in the room. Cleaning printer ink off your hands and skin can be particularly tough, so we've gathered a number of different methods you can try. Start with the simple methods, then move onto the advanced methods if the stain is particularly stubborn.

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Tips For Removing Ink And Toner Stains From Carpet

Tried and tested tips for removing stubborn ink and toner stains.

If you are someone who frequently changes your ink cartridges and toner, whether it is at work or at home, unfortunate accidents are bound to happen when dealing with these kinds of staining liquids. We've all been there - you're in the middle of switching out an old cartridge with a new one when suddenly, your hands slip and there is a large blot of ink or toner now wreaking havoc on your carpet.

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Benefits of Remanufactured Ink Cartridges

We supply remanufactured ink cartridges at Ink Technologies. Using remanufactured ink cartridges is a way to recycle and reuse old cartridges to both lower the cost of ink cartridges, as well as helping protect the environment in a positive way. The primary difference between a remanufactured cartridge and one from an original manufacturer is that remanufactured ink cartridges are much more affordable. Ink Technologies supplies both types of inkjet cartridges to provide the best equipment, supplies, and services to our clients.

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Ink Tech Rewards are HERE!

Let the games begin! Literally.

Rewards Program

As if buying ink & toner at ridiculously low prices weren't awesome enough, we've implemented a rewards program intended both to give back to our most loyal customers and invite new ones to start saving money with every print.

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What is a Waste Toner Bottle?

Though a waste toner bottle is not needed in every printer, it serves an important purpose for many laser machines. Like the brake pads on a car, waste toner bottles are not often talked about but sure do cause problems when they stop functioning.

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The Purpose of a Printer Statistics Page

The printer statistics page (sometimes referred to as a printer status page, supplies status page, or printer test page) can be a useful tool for providing information about your machine. Not only does it provide statistics about usage that can help you estimate costs, but some statistics pages can even help you determine which cartridge needs to be replaced.

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Public Notification

March 22nd, 2012–Canon and Ink Technologies have resolved their pending lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York regarding Ink Technologies' alleged infringement of Canon's U.S. Patent Nos. 5,903,803 and 6,128,454, with Ink Technologies stipulating to a Consent Judgment and Permanent Injuction from the Southern District of New York, which will prohibit Ink Technologies from making, using, selling and offering for sale in the U.S., and from importing into the U.S., the toner cartridges that Canon accused of infringement.

Brother Toner too Small?

The reason people frequently ask about changing Brother toner cartridges is because this brand of printer is unique in the way it is set up inside. Standard laser printers have a panel to open that leads directly to the cartridge, which can simply be pulled out of the printer and a new cartridge can easily be installed. What makes Brother printers different is that the drum unit and the cartridge are together in one assembly rather than two separate units like in most laser printers.

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How to Clean Your Corona Wires

Let's start with the obvious - what is a corona wire?

Chances are if you are not a printer technician, you have no idea what the answer is. This may even be the first time you have ever heard the word "corona" outside of a cold one on a hot day. However, this wire is one of the single most important parts of any laser printer, and it doesn't require a lime.

Though laser printers generally have the same components, the interior functionality and design have small differences that are unique to each manufacturer. These make it challenging to generalize cleaning techniques and give "how-to" instructions.

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Beware Printer Firmware Updates!

Printer manufacturers occasionally issue firmware updates that are typically publicly available via the company website. These updates typically provide the ability to load new and improved features to your dated machine. Firmware updates can also fix problems with existing functions and expand compatibility for software and OS upgrades.

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Cartridge Not Recognized?

If you've been using OEM cartridges in your inkjet or laser printer and have recently replaced those with remanufactured or compatible products, you may be receiving an error message telling you that the new cartridge is not recognized, or that the cartridge is empty, even though you know it is full. Don't panic! This just means your printer is having trouble reading the chip on the new cartridge. Generally, doing a "Cold Start" will clear the issue right up. We created this video to demonstrate the process for you:

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What is MICR Toner?

MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition and is a technology used mainly by banks. The process was developed as a way for machines to read sequences of numbers that are also readable by humans. The system is used on almost every check and deposit slip, as a sequence of numbers running along the bottom left. The first number is most often the bank's routing number, while the second number is the customer's account number.

This is a frequently asked question because many people who are looking for standard toner will come across an option to get standard or MICR toner and want to clarify the difference. MICR toner cannot be used in a regular printer that produces text documents or images- it is specifically designed for printing checks. Once again, MICR toner WILL NOT work in standard printers.

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Laser Printer vs. Inkjet Printer

Inkjet and laser printers have core differences, but determining which exact machine is the best choice for you is mostly based on your specific printing needs. Typically, low volume printing, such as in a dorm room or at home, can be handled by an inkjet printer. Laser printers are designed more for frequent printing in offices, large and small.

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How To Clean Printheads

If you are using an inkjet printer and you have started noticing a decline in print quality, it is possible you have clogged printheads. There are a few types of printheads, so be sure you refer to your printer manual if you do not know which type your machine uses. Once you have an idea, you can try a few different methods to clean the printheads and get back to better print quality. We have also included a video for a clear demonstration of the manual cleaning process.

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HP Model Numbers Explained

Many HP printers feature letters after the model number. For instance, the HP LaserJet Pro 4201 comes in 2 variations: 4201dn and 4201dw. If you are a buyer looking for a new HP printer for your home or office, these extra letters may be confusing, but they help to describe some of the main features of their particular models.

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Light Printing on One Side of Paper

If your printer is starting to distribute ink unevenly on your pages; the most obvious reason would be a low level of ink or toner. However, before replacing the cartridge or calling a repair person, there could be other reasons that are causing these problems. If you have an inkjet printer, see the first paragraph below for trouble shooting options. If you own a laser printer, see the post for troubleshooting.

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Faded Color When Printing

Most printers require very little maintenance and operate with very few problems, however issues such as faded color or absence of color can pop up from time to time. If you are seeing faded colors or white streaks on the page when printing with your color printer, there are a few possible causes, and the possible causes are often different depending on the type of printer you are using.

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How to Evaluate Printer Cartridge Page Yield

When ink and toner cartridges are purchased, the manufacturer provides a "page yield", which provides the consumer with an approximation of the number of pages each cartridge should produce before running out of ink or toner. This is called the Manufacturer Expected Page Yield.

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What is an Imaging Drum?

A laser printer has many components that make up the technology system used to quickly generate documents that meet a professional standard. The rollers pull the paper through and the toner actually makes the images and lettering visible to the human eye, but it is the imaging drum that is the central piece in these highly advanced printers. Also referred to as a drum unit and a photoreceptor assembly, the imaging drum is ultimately responsible for the transfer of printer toner and image or text to the paper.

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What are Remanufactured Toner Cartridges?

When shopping for toner cartridges, you may have heard the phrase "remanufactured" referring to certain products. You may have even heard stories of how remanufactured cartridges are of lower quality than genuine versions from the manufacturer.

To put it simply, remanufactured toner cartridges are previously-used cartridges that are reconditioned, then refilled with fresh toner and sold for a more affordable price. The yield and resolution rendered by each remanufactured cartridge made by reputable companies will be equivalent to that of an OEM cartridge, with a satisfaction guaranteeto back it up.

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