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(Editor's note: this post has been re-titled, edited for clarity, and extended since it was originally posted. The original title "Road Trip" was ambiguous and the content contained some errors -- Ed.)
I've been traveling quite a bit this week and haven't had time to post but I have been keeping up with the news. Several interesting things have happened while I was on the road.
National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) reported business in the commercial print sector has hit a
five-month
low at 45.5. This is the second consecutive decline and the second consecutive sub-50 month. NAPL cautions this is not an indication the industry is going back into recession. NAPL tracks a lot of industry statistics, and I need to check into this because I don't know what they saw that indicated the industry was ever coming out of recession.
ImageX licensed three of their patents to printChannel. This is an interesting move in the overall landscape of printing process patents. I have written about this before and have serious doubts about the viability and enforceability of many of the recently-issued process patents for online printing companies. At best these patents are a stretch. At worst they're outright fraud.
I have reviewed the printChannel offering and met previously with the management team there. It's difficult to believe they would gain anything useful from this license, so the motive is likely defensive -- to avoid wasting vital capital in useless legal wrangling. Virtually all the print e-procurement companies are struggling, and wasteful patent litigation is the last thing any of them they need.
But printChannel's signing with Imagex could establish precedent that there is market value to the patent and allow the company to take its lawsuit business model to larger players. This is something to watch. (Editor's note: Soon after this piece was written printChannel announced they would cease operations and in November 2002 was acquired by Printcafe. In May 2003 ImageX, teetering on its own bankruptcy, was acquired by Kinko's for $15 million -- Ed.)
Kinko's is rebuilding in Dallas. The company continues to rebuild itself in the DFW area after installing a new CEO and shuttering its SoCal HQ. Gary Kusin, the new CEO, came from the office furniture industry. Sue Parks, recently
named exec-VP of Ops, came from Gateway Computers and USWest. I'm
told there are lots of ads in the DFW papers for programmers,
engineers, etc at Kinko's. Should be interesting to see what happens
there over the next year. It is not easy to rebuild an entire company
in a new city.
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