Epson America Inc. has announced that CRN has named Diane Betts, Epson's group manager of commercial channel marketing, to the Women of the Channel list for 2024. This annual list honors women from vendor, distributor and solution-provider organizations whose vision and leadership have a beneficial influence on the technology industry.

Betts is responsible for marketing Epson commercial products and solutions to partners in multiple routes to market. Working closely with the entire ecosystem of partners who sell and support the entire suite of Epson solutions from receipt printers to robots, she is the voice of the channel, advocating for marketing materials, content, tools and resources that partners can use to drive demand and grow sales. Joining the team in 2018, Betts has developed several structured channel programs to establish lasting partnerships and continue to meet customer needs.

"The channel is an extension of our company, reflecting our goals and values," Betts said. "The key to success for channel partners is expanding their business within existing customers and generating new opportunities, and we make it our goal to deliver quality sales and marketing tools, and effective training and product resources needed to help them do so."

Over the past year, Betts' team worked closely with sales and partners to organize and co-sponsor customer events at Epson's headquarters to help showcase solutions for specific vertical markets, as well as develop sales and marketing resources that help partners learn, promote and sell solutions across product lines. She has also helped develop the Partner Advisory Council at Epson, which opened doors to a range of new growth opportunities.

"It is a great privilege to honor the remarkable achievements of these women leaders in the IT channel," said Jennifer Follett, vice president of U.S. content and executive editor, CRN at The Channel Company. "Each woman on the list has demonstrated a deep commitment to innovation and leadership that advances their organizations and drives transformation and success across the IT channel."

In other news, Epson has announced that Epson America Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. filed a joint complaint with Amazon against a range of defendants engaged in the unlawful and expressly prohibited sale of counterfeit Epson-branded ink bottles that infringe on the registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corp. and Epson America. Epson has taken this action to permanently prevent defendants from selling counterfeit Epson ink bottles, and to protect Epson's customers, brand reputation, intellectual property (IP) rights and legitimate resellers of Epson ink.  

The complaint was filed jointly on May 6, 2024, and alleges the defendants, among other claims, infringed and misused Epson's IP; willfully deceived and harmed Epson and their customers; and undermined the trust that customers place in Epson-branded products sold in the Amazon store.

"The joint lawsuit with Amazon underscores Epson's ongoing enforcement against infringing sellers of Epson ink cartridges, ink bottles, and other consumables," said Jilana Miller, assistant general counsel, Epson America. "From obtaining General Exclusion Orders in the ITC, to raids and seizures of counterfeit products and regular enforcement through online marketplaces, Epson employs a broad range of efforts to address patent and trademark infringement in the market. We applaud Amazon's ongoing measures to prevent counterfeit products from being listed and its dedicated actions to remove the counterfeit listings, block relevant accounts and proactively work with affected customers."

"Amazon has a zero-tolerance policy for counterfeit products and collaborated with the Epson team on this joint lawsuit to have a direct impact on these bad actors and permanently prevent them from selling counterfeits," said Kebharu Smith, director, Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU). "Amazon will continue to work to protect customers, brands, selling partners and our store from fraud and abuse. We are grateful for the collaboration with Epson as we work toward a shared goal of eliminating counterfeits and holding bad actors accountable."