Kodak takes legal action against HP: ISO page yield: First law suit
We filed a suit against Hewlett-Packard in October 2010 at Cologne´s (Germany) district court, Kodak informed us.
The case is based on HPs announcement of ISO page yields for ink printers which employ Nr. 364 cartridges, using as an example standard cartridges of the HP Photosmart Premium C309g.
HP-Patrone Nr. 364: Supposed to have 8 % less yield than promised by HP.
ISO/IEC 24711
describes a clearly defined method for testing and calculating of average yield measured in the number of standard pages for a color inkjet cartridge (and a specific printer), printing in a semi-continuous mode under a defined set of conditions.
The standard permits to use a .PRN-file instead of the .PDF-file, which is one of the test-files (using Adobe Acrobat). But the standard also says, this procedure is permitted only, if the yield determined is not affected. This has to be recorded in writing, which has been done in a test log available to us.
Comparison measurements
on behalf of Kokak were done by "Quality Logic". They found their ISO page yield results being lesser than the ones determind by HP.
Kodak had the ISO test document printed via Adobe Acrobat. They suspected a deviation when using a .PRN-file. So Kodak Germany assigned TÜV Rheinland (Technical Inspection Agency) to find out page yield according to standard ISO/IEC 24711 using both procedures, .PRN and PDF via Adobe Acrobat.
The result was a ten percent lesser yield when printing in color, and seven percent less when printing black text, using Adobe Acrobat, compared to the .PRN-method. Kodak assumes that using a .PRN-file results in fewer cleaning cycles.
| Comparison of page yield using Adobe Acrobat and a .PRN-file | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| TÜV-Rheinland .PRN-file | TÜV-Rheinland Adobe Acrobat file | Deviation Adobe Acrobat vs. PRN | |
| C/M/Y average Nr. 364 | 309 | 278 | -10,0% |
| Text black Nr. 364 | 303 | 282 | -6,9% |
| © Druckerchannel | |||
The photo-black ink is not mentioned here, since it is not employed in this ISO test. This yield is exclusively based on print head cleaning cycles.
The test results achieved by TÜV allow this conclusion: HP must not use this method with a .PRN-file, since results are differing.
Comparing the TÜV results (Adobe Acrobat) with HPs (see table below) you will find a strong negative discrepancy of about seven percent in color printing. Similar differences were found by TÜV using Nr. 901 and Nr. 920XL cartridges with selected printers.
| Yield according to ISO/IEC 24711 for HP Photosmart Premium C309g | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HP print, .PRN-file | TÜV-Rheinland, print via Adobe Acrobat | Difference TÜV to HP | |
| C/M/Y average Nr. 364 | 300 | 278 | -7,3% |
| Text black Nr. 364 | 250 | 282 | +12,8% |
| © Druckerchannel | |||
In its press release Kodak keeps quiet about the fact, that when TÜV determined text yield, HP came up with about 13 percent higher yield (see table above, last line). This result suggests that HPs approach differs in several other ways from what Kodak commissioned to TÜV.
Druckerchannel conclusion
Kodaks complaint is justified in our opinion. But Kodak is sitting in a glasshouse while throwing stones at HP. Only recently we disclosed a Triple-cheat by Kodak. We found no false measuring, but misleading information for customers concerning page yield.
To put the discussion on neutral ground, DC will determine ink yield in its own lab as before and in the future. We use the same procedure on every printer and cartridge, printing a text document and a photo until a/one cartridge is empty.
The yields determined this way are independent and can be compared impartially. Take a look at this article:
Test: Kodak ESP Office 6150 (Seite 3). (Sorry, but this text is available in German only.)
