Ink bias: Allen Luthy of ink equipment refilling manufacturer SME, discusses aftermarket inkjet inks and image permanence testing credibility.

What horrible irony. As I sat down last night to draft a formal response to the recent Wilhelm Imaging Research Inc. (WIR), Grinnell, Iowa, study that had lambasted the image permanence of most aftermarket inkjet inks, I ran into a terrible problem. When I went to review my notes, all the pages were blank! They had been printed on an inkjet printer the day before, and the ink had just all faded away.

OK, this immediate fading really didn't occur; but according to the results from the WIR study on Display Permanence Ratings, you would have expected this very thing to happen. With incredulous results that a new OEM cartridge-printed image lasts 35 times longer than an aftermarket cartridge, why would anyone purchase an aftermarket inkjet cartridge? Why are there increasing numbers of companies disagreeing with the WIR test protocol and methodologies used in this study? What is actually prompting the proliferation of these highly biased "objective" studies? The answer to all three questions is money.

According to Charles Brewer, managing editor of The Hard Copy Supplies Journal, the world's inkjet printers are guzzling more than $32 billion worth of ink this year. Retailers are selling high-quality remanufactured inkjet cartridges at 50 percent off the retail price (of a new OEM cartridge) and still earning margins of more than 85 percent. Is it any wonder why this marketplace is exploding?

Lyra Research Inc., Newtonville, Mass., a leading imaging industry market research firm, notes the worldwide aftermarket inkjet market share of the total inkjet cartridge market currently stands at 31 percent and is expected to grow to a remarkable 36 percent by 2010.

The huge upswing in consumer acceptance of aftermarket cartridges is affecting OEM manufacturers. These OEMs often sponsor "independent" studies designed to sway consumers into not buying aftermarket cartridges.

Consumer Reports, Yonkers, N.Y., which many would consider to be an unbiased product evaluator, noted in their July 2006 issue that several aftermarket inkjet cartridges matched the photo quality of the printer makers' cartridges at a reduced price.

Certainly there are substandard vendors in every industry; but the majority of aftermarket inkier products generate high-quality finished goods comparable to a new OEM cartridge, but at an attractive price.

Kodak has previously disputed the WIR testing protocol regarding light stability--the key element for this study. Apparently, the lumen level in the accelerated glass-filtered fluorescent light stability test WIR uses (450 lux/12 hours per day) is nearly four times higher than the Kodak recommended testing protocol for realistic conditions. Extrapolating data from unrealistic lighting conditions will generate unrealistic results.

Henry Wilhelm, co-founder, president and director of research at WIR, recently stated, "There are no ISO or ANSI standards for permanence, so our company standard has become the de facto industry standard." No, this just means everyone is entitled to an opinion. Many believe these test results are exaggerated and unrealistic and, therefore, are not credible.

Other key comparative results for specific vendors from this particular study were conveniently omitted. There was no differentiation between which cartridges used dye-based inks versus pigmented ones, and the print media used in each case dramatically affected the longevity of the test prints.

As a case in point, Wilhelm's own words perfectly illustrate his "position du jour" regarding aftermarket inks. In a February 2004 article in Great Output magazine: "For example, there is a combination of HP inks and media that we rated as lasting 73 years. This life span fell to just 2 years when the consumer substituted a Staples-branded photo paper for the HP premium photo paper."

So what is really the key variable here?

Regardless of the ink type or print media, all colors will eventually fade. Is the WIR study even relevant? Is it a benchmark to judge the entire industry? Certainly not. The value proposition that an aftermarket inkjet product offers regarding print quality, page yield, price, and image permanence is what is ultimately driving the explosive growth of these products.