Gerald Chamales

Chamales spent his early life in a foster home, before moving back in with his single mother. His father was Tom T. Chamales, author of two books including the 1957 Never So Few, which was made into a film starring Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen. His father, however, died at the age of 35 when Gerald was a child.[1]

In 1980 with $7000 Gerald Chamales founded what is now known as Rhinotek Computer Products[2] in his Venice, California studio apartment.[3] The firm nearly ran out of money in the first year. The business was run out of his apartment for the first five years, over which time Chamales paid himself only $200 per month. At that point he moved the business into an office, and within two years he was making enough profit to hire fifteen new employees.[4]

By 1998 the company, then known as Omni Computer Products, had 250 employees and $25.5 million in sales.[5] Four years later in 2002 the company had in excess of $45 million in sales.[3] That year Chamales was interviewed by reporters about the intentions of pending Lexmark lawsuits against small printer cartridge competitors, and stated that while there is nothing wrong with making a profit, "there is something wrong if you can sell something for $300 that costs you $30 to make and you are trying to drive out someone who's willing to sell it for $100."[6] The evolution of his management style has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, stating that Chamales has "learned to tap into employees' passions and strengths, and get the best out of them."[7]

Chamales sold Rhinotek to a private equity firm in 2006, which later filed an assignment for the benefit of its creditors under the California Code of Civil Procedure in 2008.[8]

He afterwards founded Equity Value Group, a company specializing in investments and philanthropic causes.[9] In 2010 he received his film credit, serving as a producer for the feature-length documentary film Something's Gonna Live, which traced the history and stories of six early era Hollywood production pioneers.[10]

Jerry was nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for business service in 1998 and won the award in 2001,[19][20] and Rhinotek was named to Industry Week Magazine's list of the Top 25 U.S. Manufacturers.[21]

In 1994, Chamales acquired a house near to that of O.J. Simpson. Because of the notoriety of the events that occurred shortly thereafter surrounding Simpson, Chamales attempted to claim a casualty loss under IRC § 165 for the estimated loss of market value on his residence. This was denied by the Internal Revenue Service, and its ruling was upheld in 2000 by the United States Tax Court. However, an accuracy-related penalty under IRC § 6662 was revoked, as the filing had been done in good faith.[22]

In 2005 Chamales' company Rhinotek was sued by HP over the packaging Rhinotek was using at the time. Though HP and Rhinotek ink is different, Rhinotek products are compatible with HP printers. HP's complaint stated that it believed that Rhinotek should make it more explicit on its packaging that Rhinotek uses parts recycled from used cartridges to produce its products.[23] The lawsuits occurred at approximately the same time as state legislation in the US, including in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire, for government agencies to purchase remanufactured printer cartridges rather than new cartridges for reasons of cost and environmental concerns. In 2002 Chamales responded to such moves by printer manufacturers as trying "to prevent erosion of their marketshare".[24]

In 2005, Chamales sold a Toronto-based recycling company in which he had invested to Okidata. In the following year, he launched a lawsuit against Okidata in the matter. Originally filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, it was transferred to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2007.[25]