Over the past four months, HP has assisted the Indian police department in raiding nine shops in Mumbai and Chennai, turning up a large haul of fake HP printer cartridges and accessories.
These shops include Royal Trading Co, Bombay Stationers and Pacific Computers in Chennai as well as Choice Music Shop and Tech Point in Fort District, Mumbai, said HP in a statement today.
Specifically, over 250 forged cartridges, refills, packages, pouches, toner boxes and a sealing machine were seized by the Chennai Police's Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department on March 8.
On February 28, the Mumbai police arrested three individuals--Rajesh Rupa Ahir, Mauji Punja Patel and Dinesh Gokhar Dubaria--for possessing more than 1,500 fake pouches, ink cartridges and toners, security labels and boxes. Ink injectors, a sealing machine and printer were also found on their premises.
The arrest came one week after the Mumbai police raided a workshop in Fort District. Among the counterfeit items seized were 5,500 security labels and cartridge stickers, 4,800 catalogs and 500 inkjet boxes. Dinesh Teja Patel, the owner of the workshop, was also arrested.
An HP spokesperson said of the efforts: "Our program investments in India have begun to reap rewards." The company also warned that it will continue to hunt down racketeers.
The raids have been ongoing since last year, following tip-offs from affected customers. Since October, a total of 10 people have been detained, said the spokesperson when contacted.
Crackdowns were also carried out on forgers in China in the fourth quarter of 2001. Over 87,000 counterfeit HP cartridges and accessories were seized, with 14 police raids conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
In its push to re-capture market share from counterfeiters, HP last May introduced a new inkjet cartridge packaging that incorporates a "color shifting" security label; when viewed face on, the HP "invent" logo on the label appears in color, but when viewed at any other angle the logo will look black.
The company has also been replacing its older ink cartridge boxes in line with stock turnover on a market-by-market basis. However, the security labels have not yet been incorporated into HP's toner cartridge packaging.
The spokesperson added: "HP will not rest on its laurels, but will continue to work hard in its fight against the counterfeiters through similar actions, and by making it easier for customers to identify original HP print cartridges."
Play video
Printing supplies, with the possible exception of paper, are over-priced. Both liquid ink for inkjets, and toners for laser printers prices make on-demand printing costs absurd. Get the price down to about the cost of off-set printing ink, (1.5-2.0 cents per color for 40% fill on 8.5x11 stock) and the counterfeit market will disappear. Can't be done? BULL!
Giving away a printer, and then charging exorbitant prices for supplies is very close to extortion. Try finding one, just one, after-market vendor of toners for laser printers. By the time third part manufactures are permitted to produce toners, the printer manufactures discontinue supplying parts for the printer. This is a crafty way of circumventing "monopoly" charges, but that's what Xerox, HP and others are operating as, in regards to printer supplies - ink to parts. So, who are the real thieves?
Posted by anonymous on Thursday, March 28 2002 01:31 AM