HP`s Elizabeth Porter delivering the presentation
Elizabeth Porter and Matthew Barkley deliver presentation outlining recommended changes to certain aftermarket chips to a large audience at Remanexpo@Paperworld.
The presentation, titled ‘Aftermarket chips for HP LaserJet Printers: Recommended changes to avoid brand misidentification’, took place as part of the event’s REMCON seminar programme, and enabled remanufacturers present to learn both why the changes are necessary and the solution they should follow to avoid brand misidentifcation when their products are used in certain HP LaserJet printers.
Elizabeth Porter began by highlighting the issue of HP printers displaying the message ‘Genuine HP cartridge installed’ when the cartridge is in fact a remanufactured product, thus misidentifying the product being used and potentially confusing users. She therefore said that aftermarket chip makers must ensure that the message is accurate by making a change to the chip`s trademark field value, entering the aftermarket company`s brand name so that the message reads `non-HP cartridge installed` instead.
In terms of which chips are affected, it was made clear that all HP LaserJet printers introduced in 2014 would need to issue the correct display, as well as a number of other printers that the OEM listed in October. This list, Barkley said, will be continually updated to ensure that chip manufacturers are aware of which chips are affected, and can be viewed via HP`s website.
Listing the benefits of complying to HP`s white paper, Porter and Barkley noted that it will help to ensure customers` products “are respectful of registered trademarks and other rights as is guaranteed in many countries” as well as allowing aftermarket manufacturers to “validate that their products are not used to pass off counterfeit product” and help to “ensure that HP is capable of helping customers identify and avoid counterfeit products”.
Barkley then went on to highlight HP’s legal disclaimer concerning the announcement, which noted that by conforming to these guidelines, it “does not guarantee and should not be construed to mean that the products produced are free of any other claims or rights held by HP or any other party” and that “HP is not waiving any rights it may have; including rights to enforce patents against producers of such products”.
Porter acknowledged that HP feels “positive about the response from the aftermarket”, with a number of companies already announcing their intention to comply; and added that delivering presentations as a form of communication between HP and the aftermarket “is working very well – there’s promise in this kind of interaction”.
Among the recommendations to ensure that the guidelines are met were making sure that the latest firmware is updated so that chips behaved as expected, with Barkley asserting that the guidelines have no relation to the issue of some HP firmware attempting to discourage the use of non-OEM consumables. A further point made concerned universal chips, which it was said need to be changed to comply with the guidelines if they are able to be used in the printers concerned.
Both Porter and Barkley said that should anyone require further information or encounter any issues, they can be contacted via email on matthew.barkley@hp.com or betsy.porter@hp.com.
For those who missed the presentation and wish to hear it first-hand, it will be given again tomorrow at 15:30 in the Exposè seminar theatre on level 3.C.