With two hardware developers grappling over technology patents, what are the ramifications for the marketplace? Major drama is unfolding in the usually calm world of wide-format printing: HP is being sued by Memjet, a small company started by a band of Australian scientists. The suit has big implications for what is widely recognized as the next technology revolution in wide-format printing. But before we explore those implications, let’s look into the backstory behind the suit.
In 2014, HP assembled the press in Los Angeles to introduce PageWide, a wide-format printing technology it said would revolutionize the industry. PageWide technology would support both monochrome and color at 1,200 dpi and at remarkable speed (11” per second, or up to 30 D-sized plots per minute). There would no longer be any need to choose between fast, inexpensive monochrome LED printing and color inkjet printing, which is slower and uses more expensive inks, but is also more visually expressive. The 2014 announcement was not a product release, but an advance advisory; HP said it would not start shipping until 2015. The company said it wanted its customers to know what was coming so they could plan their leasing and purchasing strategies accordingly.
In August 2015, HP gathered members of the press again, this time at its wide-format printing factory in Alpharetta, Georgia. As covered by Cadalyst columnist Robert Green, HP unveiled three models in its forthcoming PageWide XL line. Using a set of stationary modular print heads, HP can fashion a paper path as wide as 1 meter, depending on the printer model. Sheets are printed in one pass, seeming to fly out of the device when compared with the inkjet wide-format printers HP currently sells. HP said PageWide XL would be a new company subdivision, with models of varying size and price to appear starting in November 2015. HP is already using the technology in smaller office-sized printers released earlier this year. Shortly after the press gathering in Georgia, full-color printhead technology manufacturer Memjet filed a patent lawsuit against HP. It seems that in 2012, Memjet introduced what it calls “waterfall” technology: It uses stationary modular printheads in an array (just like HP) for a five-color ink delivery system that produces color and monochrome prints at speeds as fast as 12” per second at 1,600 dpi (faster and more dense than HP). Memjet builds the printheads for use by other manufacturers, including Canon/OcÉ. Printers came to market in 2014 using Memjet’s waterfall technology, but so far they are all in the $100,000-and-up range — intended for a limited market of mostly reprographics shops, compared to HP’s high-volume approach.