Proprietary Ink Blends And Why They Matter To Printer Ink Cartridge Companies

2011-03-03

Printer ink sales are big business and printer ink companies do everything they can in order to both protect their place in the market and ensure that they are able to generate increasing sales. One way that printer ink companies attempt to stay ahead of the curve and compete with other manufacturers is to create proprietary ink blends that only they can produce and that will work best with their printer types. These blends are very important to printer ink companies as they represent a way to protect their investment and are an attempt to limit the amount of ink that is sold after-market or by ink refill providers. Ink is a major source of profit for insurance companies, far more so than printers themselves and companies will do as much as they can to protect their printer ink blends.

Printer ink companies face challenges on two fronts, the first being the problems that are presented in a world that relies increasingly on online documentation rather than the printed word. Many businesses are turning to email and messaging solutions over traditional printed pages and this can hurt the bottom line of printer companies. In order to protect their interests and keep them viable in a changing market, most companies will jealously guard the proprietary blends of ink that they create in order to ensure that no other company can duplicate what they produce. In conjunction with these created blends, companies tailor their printers to work best if only their blend is used.

These same companies also face challenges from refill ink manufacturers that attempt to copy but not perfectly replicate their ink blends. There have been a number of court cases that have been started by ink companies in an effort to limit the amount of reproduction that a refill company can do. By protecting their blends and their interests when it comes to printer ink, companies hope to keep customers coming back for their particular brand. Unfortunately, in order to make ink and printer sales viable, the cost of ink must be a significant amount higher than that of printers themselves, which often leads companies and individuals to seek out refill providers or bulk ink refills rather than approved brands. To combat this problem many printer and ink companies will place warranties on printers that will be void if non-approved ink is used.

Printer ink companies are in the difficult position of seeing a dwindling market with more competitors than ever on the horizon. For this reason, they are dedicated to keeping their ink blends private and proprietary and zealously fighting off any attempt to copy them or sell under their brand name.