DSF

Has the patent on there ink expired or something as I've noticed a massive rise of ink being sold on eBay, where as before these types of ink sets for sale on there would be taken down within hours.

I've noticed this too!

The inks are there for people to buy for their large format printers. It's all above board that way as outside of Sawgrass range. 42" and above.

I'm not talking about the people selling inktec 1l bottles, more the 100ml unbranded bottles.

Then that would be dodgy and illegal as I am sure large format purchases can only be 1ltr plus. 500ml size got pulled a couple of years ago.

Thats why I asked about the patent as I know some of them were due to expire this year

Their '907 patent expires in September this year.
There are always people trying to sell smaller bottles of sublimation ink on Ebay, but they always disappear after a while, probably after they lose their nerve when they start getting too many letters and phone calls from Sawgrass' lawyers.

I know it is very complex and there are soo many patents involved for Sawgrass rather than just one, that it will continue for years to come. One might expire but the others are still in place. It's their God given right to print money or so I have been told.

I had a long chat with Sawgrass about this a while back. Short story is there are many patents backed up behind each other so don't expect it to end any time soon.

eBay is full of counterfeit goods and not quite legit products. I wouldn't even buy a memory card on that site. Those Chinese inks will always appear for a while.

I don't think anyone has the money to challenge the patent, I'm sure those back up patents could be exploited. I didn't think anyone had the right to run a monopoly?