Page 14 - Print21 magazine Sep-Oct 2022

Leading Article
A win for the little guys
The imbalance in power between small print businesses and large international equipment suppliers came into sharp focus with a recent Federal Court decision. Good news for printers, but it should never have come to this. Maintaining a level playing field is, or should be, a no brainer for industry associations.
It is notoriously difficult to dismount from a hobbyhorse. For a journalist, waging a campaign to set some wrong right often morphs into a long-term
crusade. Even after the initial enthusiasm has waned, the hobbyhorse keeps the bit between its teeth and charges on. Over thirty years of writing about the printing industry I’ve ridden my share of campaign chargers, gone into battle to defend the right, and tried to influence the outcome of events large and small. There were some wins and, of course, many losses.
But some notions of what’s fair and reasonable stay alive, even in the face of commitment fatigue after months, or
even years of campaigning when nothing happens. I was reminded of one of my more enduring hobbyhorses recently when I read that the ACCC got a win in the Federal Court against Fujifilm, for contracts issued by what was Fuji-Xerox.
You might have read about it. The court declared 38 contract terms in 11 of its small business contracts unfair and void. It affects some 34,000 contracts for print engines that have gone into all kinds of organisations and enterprises since 2016. Nobody, least of all Fuji, knows how many of these customers qualify as small businesses, which the court
seeks to protect. That’s any business with less than 20 staff, which takes in, by my reckoning, more than 80 per cent of printing businesses.
Some customers faced litigation by the company to enforce these unjust terms, and, let’s be clear, Fuji was, and is, not
the only supplier that uses these standard form contracts. According to the ACCC, the practice is widespread throughout
the industry.
Time to stand up
Now everyone is going to have to clean up their act. But it should never have come
to the courts to police the industry. Over many years there’s been a campaign for an industry-wide set of contract conditions
to be backed by what used to be known as Printing Industries, now the Print & Visual Communications Association, but it has never been taken up, despite most of the members being small businesses.
Based on a seminal document drawn
up by Andy Scott, to align Kwik Kopy suppliers with the franchise’s requirements, these contract conditions are designed to protect small printing businesses from the disproportionate power of the suppliers.
Scott, who just recently retired, is a well- respected, industry veteran who served his time with Fuji Xerox, so he’s well qualified as poacher turned gamekeeper.
Most printers were, and are, not so protected – the unfair conditions are still current in standard form contracts. When it comes to a dispute the suppliers hopelessly outgun them. Some go to the wall, unable to fight the legal costs. Most have to cop it sweet.
Don’t get me wrong; the suppliers are not necessarily the bad guys. They wish their customers to succeed, of course they do, but disputes will arise from time to time. That’s inevitable. Suppliers want
to do good business, but, of course, they want to operate on their own terms.
These terms are now up for grabs after the court’s decision and it’s time the industry associations, on both sides of the operator/ supplier divide, came up with a minimum set of fair conditions that small printers can reference.
And that’s still my hobbyhorse. Giddy up.
Patrick Howard
— Editor-at-large
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14 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022
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