John Viavattine, the head of Xerox's Media Technology Centre, told the magazine: "I was asked to go to Chicago to visit the Chicago children's court.

"This was the mid-Nineties, and a sales rep had put our printers - I think they were 400 Series - over at the court system. What was happening was, lawyers had to deliver certain court documents to the defence attorneys within a certain amount of time. Otherwise, the defendant was let go. They were losing two out of three cases because of paper jams."

As he told the story, he paused for emphasis. "Two out of three defendants were gone - walking out the door - because of paper jams."

Their investigations soon found the culprit. And it certainly wasn't their 400 Series printers. "The problem was that they were using some off-brand, really down-in-the-dumps paper," he said.

It was no doubt a memorable professional victory. But the tale grows bolder. Eric Ruiz, leader of the paper jam team, said: "Now you know why the crime rate in Chicago went down."