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Customer Lists Are Not Trade Secrets
A judge in Massachusetts ruled that the principal of a printing company had not violated laws governing trade secrets when he transferred his customer list to a new employer, according to a story reported in Massachusetts Lawyers Weeky.
Judge Thayer Fremont-Smith ruled that “The value of the customer information consisted in the personal relationships [he] and his salesmen had with their customers rather than in the identity of any customers or in any customer list…These personal relationships were not a proprietary asset of [the former employer], but were legally and properly acquired and utilized by [the new employer] to generate customers and sales.”
The eight-page decision is RIS Paper Co., Inc., et al. v. Wave Graphics, Inc., et al., For the complete story, visit www.masslaw.com/news1114.cfm.

The Industry Measure Releases Annual Forecast
The Industry Measure has released its annual forecast of the publishing markets in a report titled “Publishing Forecast 2007.” It looks at the trends and forces that will influence book, magazine, and catalog publishers in the next 12 months and beyond. Among its findings are the following:

• In summer 2006, 26 percent of all publishers (and 29 percent of catalog publishers) said business conditions for the past 12 months had been “excellent, better than the 12 months before that.”
  
• In summer 2006, 31 percent of all publishers (and 39 percent of catalog publishers) expect business conditions in the next 12 months to be “excellent, better than they had been in the past 12 months.”
  
• In Summer 2006, 63 percent of all publishers surveyed cited “driving traffic to our Web site” as a sales opportunity; the highest this opportunity has ever reached in three years surveyed;
  
• In Summer 2006, the top three planned investment categories for all publishers were workstations, flat-panel LCD monitors, and desktop publishing software;
  
• In Summer 2006, 48 percent of catalog publishers said that “e-mail promotions/e-letters” were becoming more important for the promotion of their products, while 17 percent said that “print catalog mailings” were becoming less important;
  
• In Summer 2006, 18 percent of all publishers had worked on at least one personalized, customized, or variable data print project in the previous 12 months.

Ennis Ranked in Forbes
Manufacturer Ennis Inc. was listed among Forbes “200 Best Small Companies” for the fifth consecutive year. Ennis ranked 93rd on the list, moving up eighty-seven places from the previous year’s ranking of 180. The list includes publicly traded companies with $5 million to $750 million in sales for the previous year. All companies on the list must earn a minimum of 5 percent net margin and have a five-year average return on equity of 5 percent or more. Ennis remains the only wholesale printer to appear on this list.

Top 50 GPO Vendors for 2006
The e-LYNXX Corporation has released its annual list of the Top 50 U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) vendors for 2006. The list includes printers that produce the most work through the GPO procurement system. News Printing Company, Claysburg, Pa., has taken over the GPO top spot with $23,918,051 in winnings, while former top performers such as Peake Printers, Cheverly, Md., dropped to No. 41 and Esselte, Los Angeles, Calif., dropped to No. 47. Twelve printers historically among the top vendors dropped off the list, while up-and-coming performers like PA Hutchison, Mayfield, Pa., moved onto the list and into the No. 27 spot with $2,665,773. The list is compiled from data assembled exclusively by e-LYNXX and encompasses the Federal Fiscal Year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006.

OfficeMax Rebrands Print and Document Services
OfficeMax announced that its print and document services operations will now be branded under the name OfficeMax ImPress. The name is meant to signify that the company creates documents and printing pieces with the intent to make a favorable impression, the company reports. OfficeMax has begun changing retail signs and associate badges to reflect the OfficeMax ImPress brand. It expected to have all stores representing the new name by December 2006.

Four51 Announces Growth
Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Four51 Inc. announced that an additional 32,500 users connected to its network in October, a 642 percent increase from October 2005. The company also reported that it facilitated 152,112 transactions, a 190 percent increase from last year. Four51 attributes its growth to the increased adoption of Web-to-print solutions by its customers as a means to extend the reach of a traditional sales force.

Printco’s Safety Record Remains Intact
Employees of Omro, Wis.-based manufacturer Printco Incorporated received jackets embroidered with the company’s logo in recognition for their emphasis on safety in the workplace. The manufacturer has been injury-free for the last three years, the company reports. “In the printing industry, where there is lots of equipment used to produce the products we provide, there are lots of opportunity for injury,” says Ken Sperling, Printco’s owner. In addition to the jackets, employees were treated to free lunches, fleece tops, first aid kits and other rewards for staying safe.

FormStore Incorporated Installs New Equipment
Manufacturer FormStore Incorporated installed its second Kodak NexPress 2500 Plus and its second Kodak
NexGlosser. FormStore also announced participation in the Four51 Connect Elite program, which allows FormStore distributors, without charge, to manage their customers’ digital print catalogs and transact their customers’ digital print orders using the Four51 commerce network.

Rosemont Press Installs Müller Martini Stitcher
Rosemont Press, a manufacturer of commercial printing, recently installed a Presto saddle stitching system from Müller Martini. The company did not previously have any stitching equipment. Bringing the print finishing in-house enables Rosemont to keep tighter control of production schedules and quality, the company reports. The 9,000 cycle per hour Presto saddle stitcher is engineered for small- to medium runs.

Cabinet NG Wins QuickBooks Award
Cabinet NG, Huntsville, Ala., was awarded the Sleeter Group’s 2007 Awesome QuickBooks Add-on Award at the company’s annual conference. Cabinet was recognized for CNG-Books, its integrated document management solution. To win the award, companies must show superior design, integrate with QuickBooks’ software, conform to accounting standards and show outstanding customer support.

Canon USA Honored at SGIA Show
Canon USA, Lake Success, N.Y., was awarded two 2006 Digital Printing and Imaging Association Product of the Year Awards at the SGIA Digital Trade Show in Las Vegas. The Canon iPF9000 60-inch won in the output device category for poster-size production and textile printing, and the iPF5000 won in the presentation size output device category. Output devices are judged for color, detail and tonality.

DocuLex Excels at Data Discovery
DocuLex, Winterhaven, Fla., was chosen as a Top Electronic Data Discovery Provider by the Socha Gelbmann Survey for the Discovery Cracker program. The survey is voted on by industry peers and clients, and its endorsements are considered high honors in the EDD market. DocuLex is currently celebrating its tenth year serving the legal community.

Web-To-Print Emphasis at Graphics of the Americas
For the first time, Graphics of the Americas will feature a web-to-print exhibition pavilion, information area and conference symposium. The event takes place February 28 through March 4, 2007, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The Web-to-Print Pavilion is dedicated to web-to-print solutions including storefront, brand management, portal and online procurement models. The information area will give attendees guidance on visiting the appropriate exhibiting company for their needs. The symposium will allow attendees to evaluate an increasing array of technologies including “build or buy,” stand-alone software or hosted solutions.

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