Future Links December 16th
Today our news roundup from the printing industry covers Samsung’s patent for a holographic 3D printer, a Star Wars themed vegetable ad, the decline of India’s stock market related printing, Lake Image System’s printers for personalized messages, a patent troll targeting web-to-print providers, the top outdoor print applications and new on the drupa blog: On the way to drupa – the most important trends for 2016.
Samsung is granted a patent for holographic 3D printer
Samsung has been pretty reserved regarding its 3D printing plans yet the company’s patent applications tell an interesting story. After Samsung had been awarded a patent for multicolor 3D printing recently, there have been speculations about its plans. Now the story got even more interesting: Samsung was granted a patent for a holographic 3D printing apparatus.
More at 3D Print
India’s stock market related printing takes a hit
This is another sign of the changing dynamic around the printing industry: In India, the transition to paperless investing has dealt a body blow to printers specializing in stock market-related printing. Low business volumes have forced 16 of the 24 exclusive ‘stock market printers’ to down their shutters.
More at Economic Times
Lake Image Systems offers printer for personalized cards
Personalization is a clear trend and there are more and more technical solutions to provide a tailor-made product to your client. One of the new printers is supplied by Lake Image Systems. The solution involved a two-step process where ‘invisible codes’ are first printed on cards, which are then individually verified by Lake Image’s Discovery Multiscan system. The invisible 2D code is then read, matched against a database, and used to trigger a ‘Read and Print’ system to print each card with a highly variable and personalized message.
More at American Printer
Patent troll is targeting web-to-print providers
For each successful business model, there are those who try to take advantage of it without doing the work. A new wave of litigation aimed at web-to-print providers looks just like that: A recently-formed Delaware-based limited liability company called High Quality Printing Inventions, LLC, has been filing patent infringement cases in the U.S. District Courts in a litigation campaign against several printing companies using common web-to-print functionality. It appears that High Quality Printing Inventions is a non-practicing entity, a patent troll, formed for the sole purpose of seeking royalty payments.
More at What They Think
Beautiful on the outside: The top outdoor print applications
FESPA’s author Rob Fletcher has collected the most interesting and noteworthy outdoor print application in 2015. Among them: An intriguing wrap for the iconic Inverness Town House and for the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. The wrap for the Banqueting House features a design telling the story of key characters from the building’s past and is certainly worth a look.
More at FESPA
New on the drupa blog: The most important trends for 2016
As the New Year is approaching, it is a perfect time to take a glimpse into the future and look ahead to the developments that will shape the industry in 2016. We have collected statements from leaders of the printing and packaging industries to gain insight into what they view as the dominant trends shaping the state of the industry in the upcoming drupa year 2016.
More in the article