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PC World's Buys

While police say Sattar eventually confessed to knowingly selling fake cartridges directly to consumers, most retailers that stock counterfeits do so unwittingly, says Tim Trainer, president of the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition.

For example, one of the fake cartridges that PC World purchased was sold by OmniPro, a Web site owned by Ray Casa of Medley, Florida. "I had no idea [that the ink was counterfeit]," he says. Casa declines to identify where he purchased the ink.

Another bogus ink cartridge we obtained came from a Miami retail store, US Computer & Cartridges. "We cannot test every cartridge we sell," says co-owner Ray Ricardo. "If we can't tell it's counterfeit, that makes it extremely hard to protect our customers." Ricardo isn't sure which of his distributors sold him the phony cartridge PC World purchased.

We got the third fake from Alameda Business Machines in Alameda, California. Owner Michael Wood says that his records do not show where the cartridge came from.

Mopping Up

Brother, Canon, Epson, and Xerox shy away from giving specifics about domestic sources of--or lawsuits relating to--counterfeit ink. Lexmark declined all comment.

But William Duffy, Imaging Supplies Coalition president, says that some of the biggest counterfeit-ink suppliers operate in China, Malaysia, and Latin America, where government authorities have found falsified labels and packaging materials in raids of ink cartridge manufacturing plants.

Between October 2001 and March 2003, the U.S. Customs Service seized at least 18 shipments of counterfeit ink jet and toner cartridges in the port of Miami, most of them destined for Latin America. Three seized shipments, however, were believed to be headed for U.S. distribution points.

Federal court documents indicate that Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, and Seiko have filed separate lawsuits accusing U.S. companies or individuals of selling or making counterfeit ink.

In Canada, Yasar Sattar and his partner Delwir Sing Rai appeared in court in June on charges of fraud and counterfeiting. The February raid of their warehouses netted 13,195 Epson- and HP-labeled ink jet printer cartridges and 437 HP LaserJet cartridges--all fake--carrying a total value of $534,000 if sold at retail, police records show.

The Canadian authorities allege that Multi-Tech sold phony ink to 276 EBay customers, primarily in the United States. A Canadian distributor called Amico Imaging bought another $318,000 worth of the ink and resold it to stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Amico Imaging's president, Albert Frankel, says he had no idea that the ink he purchased for distribution was counterfeit.