The EU Court of Justice maintains the validity of the Commission’s decision not to investigate the complaint due to the low likelihood of establishing a dominant position of printer manufacturers on ink cartridge aftermarket (EFIM)

The EFIM-case: no dominant position of printer manufacturers on ink cartridge aftermarket* Ink in cartridges for printers is often called ‘black gold’, or qualified as the ‘most expensive liquid in the world’. Manufacturers of printers sell their ink cartridges at (relatively) high prices, whereas they offer their printers for (relatively) low prices. The ‘cheap-appliance-expensive-consumable’-business model is used widely: coffee machines and pods, consoles and games, cars and spare-parts, etc. As a consequence of the relatively high prices on the aftermarket, independent suppliers try to enter such a lucrative aftermarket by offering generic products which are compatible with the machinery offered on the up-stream market. Not surprisingly, this leads to conflicts between those