Eastman Kodak

The complaint, filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, alleges that Collins Ink Corp. ended its ink supplier arrangement with Kodak to try to force Kodak’s hand to make it also the ink supplier for its new Prosper digital printing press line.

In the lawsuit, Kodak says that more than 90 percent of its continuous inkjet customers got their inks from Collins. And Kodak, as the distributor of those inks, also provided customers with related inkjet goods such as parts and services, meaning, according to the complaint, “Kodak could lose customers not only

On the heels of GRAPH EXPO 2011’s post-show attendance report released last week-which revealed buyers up 7 percent and buyer companies up 12 percent over last year’s show-are just sampling of comments from attendees and exhibitors who spoke out on the quality of this year’s show.

Wuhan JinGang, the largest commercial printing company in Hubei Province, China, recently installed a Kodak Trendsetter 800 Platesetter, marking a significant milestone for Kodak as it the company’s 15,000th thermal computer-to-plate (CTP) device installation to date.

“Effective immediately, customers are able to purchase Collins branded inks for use in Kodak Versamark high-speed inkjet printers directly from Collins Ink. Collins has terminated the supply agreement that has been in place between the two companies for the past 10 years.”

Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, Kodak’s Senior Research Associate of Advanced Development, Electrophotographic Printing Solutions, has been honored by the Society of Imaging Science and Technology with the 2011 Chester F. Carlson Award. The prestigious award recognizes Dr. Tyagi for his remarkable contributions to the field of electrophotographic research.

Commercial printer equipment installations and other news from Printing Impressions’ Oct. 2011 edition, featuring items on Docuplex Graphics, Haapanen Brothers and J.W. Boarman Co.

Wide- and grand-format printers really stood out around the show floor, with the size of some devices giving them the impression of being the new “heavy iron” in the industry. Even the new crop of inkjet presses for high-volume page production was overshadowed a bit by their wider brethren, as fewer vendors elected to bring machines to Chicago.

Instead of seeing a gaggle of tire kickers, the printers and trade finishers who perused McCormick Place South during Graph Expo 2011 had more sober intentions. There is clearly pent-up demand in the marketplace, particularly for finishing equipment.

Eastman Kodak, in response to rumors circulating in the capital markets, issued the following statement: “Kodak is committed to meeting all of its obligations and has no intention of filing for bankruptcy. The company also continues to actively pursue its previously announced strategy to monetize its digital imaging patent portfolio. Kodak remains focused on meeting its commitments to customers and suppliers, and on delivering on its strategy to become a profitable, sustainable digital company.

EFI concluded a very successful GRAPH EXPO 2011 last week, with high visitor attendance, strong orders on the show floor, hundreds of qualified leads, and the most awards won by a single company in the Must See ’em award program’s history.