SCOTUS on Lexmark vs Impression

[xoxoxoBruce]

Impression is a small company that re-manufactures ink cartridges. You know who $3.5 Billion a year Lexmark is.

At issue before the justices is whether Lexmark can use a customer license to block a re-manufacturer like Impression from buying and refurbishing used Lexmark toner cartridges. Beginning in the 1990s, Lexmark has offered consumers a 20 percent discount — what it originally called a "prebate" — for agreeing in advance not to reuse or resell the cartridge. Lexmark uses a form of what's commonly called a shrink-wrap license: the terms appear on the cartridge box itself, and the customer accepts these terms by opening the box.

Lexmark won in a lower court, and this decision has a lot of industries nervous about the outcome.

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