John,
I would have to read between the lines and say that ST's standing as an Authorized Dealer/Service Center has little to do with their ability to continue selling sublimation ink for Epson printers.
I think it's more likely that ST and Epson (two companies claiming patent infringement) would team up to corner the market on sublimation ink/cartridges.
At this point, all it would take, is Epson going after TOG, on the aftermarket cartridge issue and the outcome of the ink patent issue would be irrelevant.
Even though there are other brands of printers, used for ink jet dye sub, they all rely on the (Epson) Seiko micro-piezo printhead technolgy.
Even bulk ink systems require a specially-fitted (Epson-designed) cartridge in the printer. David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA |