CHICAGO—RR Donnelley has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against both Quark Inc. and Creo Inc., a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak. The suit, brought out in Federal Court in Delaware, alleges that products manufactured and sold by Quark and Creo infringe upon an extensive portfolio of Donnelley patents in the area of digital printing processes. North…
Helping Dealers Sell More Tires [ The Business Objective ] Manufacturers in competitive industries like automotive products need every advantage to help their dealers stand out in the marketplace. Bridgestone (www.bridgestoneamericas.com) is one of the world's largest manufacturers of tires and rubber products, with more than 1,500 dealers across Canada and the United States. With dozens of products, collateral management and fulfillment for this network could easily become a branding and logistical nightmare. Bridgestone corporate marketing sought a solution that would eliminate these problems, and make it easier for dealers and retailers to develop advertisements and other marketing materials. Another goal
Quark Inc. announced a strategic alliance with Enfocus Software aimed at improving the overall PDF experience within QuarkXPress and to provide bundled solutions that streamline Certified PDF-based workflows. Agfa's Graphic Systems business group has added an industry specialist to support the company's recent entries into the wide-format printing market. Steve Cutler has joined Agfa's team as marketing manager for the newly formed Sign, Screen and Display segment. Brandtjen & Kluge reports that four employees have reached their 25-year anniversaries with the company. They are Deb Mitchell, accountant; Dave Peterson, journeyman machinist; Kathy Soul, computer technical officer; and Kevin Robbins, sales and service manager. In keeping
Jay Pontiac-Buick—Dealership Service Offers [The Business Objective] Jay Pontiac-Buick is an automobile dealership located on the Bedford AutoMile in Bedford, OH. They have been serving the community for more than 45 years. Ron Richnavsky, service manager at Jay Pontiac-Buick, considers himself very aggressive in the promotion of his business. For years he had been investing in direct marketing and personalized mailing activities with a specific vendor. His vendor spoke about personalization, but failed to deliver any but the most basic levels of direct marketing activity. Prompt Recovery is a variable data and one-to-one marketing firm—specializing in design, printing, data management and consulting services—that has served the automotive
Huntington College Brochure Builder The Business Objective Huntington College (www.huntington.edu) is a small, Christian, liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,000 in northern Indiana. Like many small colleges, it depends on strong recruiting tools to keep its dorms and classrooms full. But the marketing of higher education had become repetitious, dominated by a one-way flow of generic documents. Huntington College needed an alternative way to effectively reach the kind of prospects they wanted on their campus; they needed to understand their dreams and aspirations and reach out to them using this personal information. So Huntington turned to the Internet. The overall goal was
Innovate '05 Takes Digital Printing on the Road ROCHESTER, NY—Innovate '05 has begun its 14-city sweep across North America, offering attendees a day-long, free seminar on digital printing. Xerox Corp. is working with more than 25 industry partners to put on the tour. The program is designed to "help print providers and professionals in the marketing, creative and design services fields use digital printing technology to increase productivity, reduce costs, improve work processes and provide more services." Each tour stop will feature a keynote address delivered by Howie Fenton, senior consultant of digital technology, National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL); Bob Tapella, chief of
BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Scientists have challenged its veracity, but the "boiling frog" legend endures. Here's a short version: Drop a frog into a pot of boiling water and it will immediately jump up. Place a frog into a pot of temperate water, then slowly turn up the heat, and it will stay in the pot until it is overcome. Admittedly, the dire consequences of this cautionary tale are overblown when it's applied to the current status of digital printing. Nonetheless, it does give one a visceral sense for how the slow pace of a change can mask its magnitude over time
It's widely accepted that desktop publishing killed the typesetting industry. This is not true. It certainly shrank the industry a great deal. As I recall back in 1984, just before the Apple Macintosh hit the market, roughly 6,000 firms in North America offered typesetting services. In the short-term many of those firms morphed into "PostScript Service Bureaus," offering film output from desktop publishing software. Soon printers began to bring that service in-house, forcing many of the service bureaus out of business. More recently, the near-complete printing industry adoption of computer-to-plate knocked most of the rest of them out of the market. But a core group has
Agfa Leaves PrintCity; Group Promises 'Business as Usual' MORTSEL, BELGIUM—Agfa announced it is leaving the PrintCity consortium. The company reports it has decided to take a new approach for demonstrating the benefits of connectivity to its customers because the group's charter objectives were fully met at Drupa 2004. "We will demonstrate connectivity in our day-to-day business, not just in a consortium or at a trade show," explains Jan Van Daele, Agfa's vice president of imaging solutions. "Open standards have become a given and we will continue to invest our efforts and resources in innovations, connectivity and profitability for our customers," adds Marc
RESTON, VA - Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) reports it already has sold more exhibit floor space at the upcoming GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO 2004 than ultimately was sold figure for the 2003 show. The event will be held October 10-13, 2004 in Chicago's McCormick Place Complex. According to the show company, the floor plan was expanded three months ago to accommodate an influx of requests for booth space. It expects the current floor plan to be sold out completely come October. The show's Mailing & Fulfillment Center has been expanded to double its previous size (in 2003). The Wide Format Pavilion
