Man files antitrust lawsuit over printer ink

One brave, intelligent, and super-cool Boston man has taken the law into his own hands -- vis-à-vis a bunch of attorneys -- and is taking HP and Staples to task for an alleged antitrust scheme. According to Ranjit Bedi, the two companies have been in cahoots in an attempt to stop the sale of inexpensive, third-party printer ink at Staples stores. In the suit, it's suggested that HP paid Staples $100 million to refrain from sale of the cartridges. The story might be harder to believe if it weren't for the nature of the printer ink business, which seems to be rife with companies engaging in questionable business practices (like selling cartridges which give you an inaccurate read on ink remaining, barring the use of third-party cartridges, and wildly overcharging for branded ink). If you've ever owned an ink-jet printer, we're pretty sure you know exactly what we're talking about. People -- it's time to fight back.

[Kabadisha @ Mar 5th 2008 10:15AM]

My epson inkjet (I forget which model) started warning me that it needed servicing, I looked up the error code it was giving me, and discovered that the excess ink catcher in the bottom of the printer was full. You can send the printer off for a service, but I did it myself.
The basic process was to dismantle the printer, rinse the sponges in the base, reassemble then use a software tool to reset the warning on the printer. Pretty standard stuff.

The worrying thing was the sheer volume of ink I found in the sponges in the bottom of the printer. Epson claim that this is just excess ink shooting over the edge of the page when you use borderless printing & ink from head cleaning. This is not possible - I never use borderless printing and I never use the head cleaning system (i use a piece of tissue with alcohol on the print head). There was so much ink in the bottom of the tray it had solidified like jelly - I cut out a block 1" cubed of pure ink! - and that was just the stuff not absorbed by the sponges!

There is a special circle of hell reserved for Printer manufacturers and cell network providers... and if there isn't, i'm gonna set one up when I get there!

[Roofus @ Mar 5th 2008 11:23PM]

HP needs to start manufacturing guns and bullets.

[Bevon Findley @ Dec 18th 2007 9:56PM]

Where do i sign up?

[Brad @ Dec 24th 2007 4:18PM]

Not just ink-jet printers...

My Brother MFC laser printer indicated that I should replace the cartridge about a couple of months after I bought it. It's been over a year since of constant use and it's still printing 100% fine....with the low toner warning.

[JDizzle @ Dec 18th 2007 11:09PM]

Maybe it's just a bad reading?

[Chris @ Dec 18th 2007 11:19PM]

Probably not, our brother has been printing great for the last 8 months with the low toner alerts, an thats with the trial toner. Then again we don't do mery much volume in printing.

[moondy @ Dec 18th 2007 10:01PM]

this guy probably represents every single person who owns a printer in general...which is the vast majority.

in same cases its cheaper to buy a whole new printer then it is to replace the ink.

stand behind the man.

[omegajp @ Dec 18th 2007 10:03PM]

REVOLT!!!

Wait, I use toner :( boo

[Andrew @ Dec 18th 2007 10:08PM]

It's about freaking time!!! Where do I sign up. My printer tells me I am out of ink about 80 pages early. POS. Thanks to to "Boston Man"

[purdue_engr @ Dec 18th 2007 10:06PM]

i work for an ink cartridge refilling place and there are plenty of hps that wont allow you to use compatible cartridges or refilled ones, and a lot of the time, the ink you buy in stores only comes half full.

[Totalfixation @ Dec 18th 2007 10:06PM]

for me i try to squeeze every bit of ink out of my cartridges by shaking it once i notice a lighter tone on the paper. seems to work every time. I even have a Laser printer that i bought way back in 2003, and I'm really sure i printed more 5k sheets already. just shake it baby!!!

[andyo @ Dec 18th 2007 11:53PM]

That only works for toner. Not inks. I love my Epson R1800, but alas, their inks are expensive, and the scam they pull with the chips in unpardonable.

[Shawn @ Dec 18th 2007 10:18PM]

Yeah, those inks are freakin' expensive. Rock on; I love this, it's so unconventional. Let's hit 'em where it hurts.

[Nimajus Bagdonavicius @ Dec 18th 2007 10:22PM]

Pfft... expensive ink... that's nothing. My Canon MP500 broke after installing new Canon branded ink bought from Staples. The system for detecting 3rd party inks broke unrecognizing ANY of ($45) worth of ink. It's a multifunction which now is paperweight because even the scanning function is blocked if the ink is not recognized. This happened 3 months after the warranty expired... And Canon support people were sooo nice. They awarded me 13% off if I bought their new printer. Aren't I a happy customer.

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 18th 2007 10:27PM]

If you guys buy toner, you should look on amazon. I normally pay around $80/cartridge for toner, but I found this company on amazon marketplace (i think they were called i heart toner or something, idk if they are still around), who sold it for $20. I figured, ok, its worth a shot, and it's worked fine for me!

[roole @ Dec 18th 2007 10:49PM]

Yeah, sounds exactly like the one I ordered from amazon.com a couple of weeks ago: Cheaper? Yes. But the wrong friggin' toner cartridge -- it didn't even fit my printer, despite the sticker on the outside saying that it matched my HP printer model...

Now I have to go through the hassle of emails/phone calls/returns because I was trying to save a couple of twenty bucks.

Beware some of these discount types -- you can certainly get lucky, but you also can sometimes get what you pay for.

[Joe @ Dec 18th 2007 10:28PM]

Costco.
Refill ink for 7 bucks

[Kurian @ Dec 19th 2007 12:07AM]

India: Refil ink for 125 rupees. 2$

[Jagannath A @ Dec 19th 2007 1:10AM]

$2 ~ INR 80

[Iridium @ Dec 18th 2007 10:28PM]

I sent a complaint e-mail to HP regarding their wretched business practices a couple years ago. One for not supporting their $500 professional scanners from 2000-2002 with new drivers for Vista. Those scanners are far superior to the ones they have now. The other issue was that ink in the cartridges dropped from 90ml to 23ml and then finally 12ml even though the cartridge size stayed the same. The 12ml cartridge sold for $32 and the old 90ml cartridge still sold for $20 but is incompatible with the new printers.

HP is the worst in regards to ink whoring. I said in my letter than I owned 9 HP products over 10 years. My printer from 1995 still works but the last two printers I bought only lasted a few months before breaking. I said that I would never support their company ever again. I did get a response back stating that HP continues to innovate and make better products. Also that the ink is better quality and can print more pages with less ink due to more efficient print head designs. Load of BS.

Go Boston guy. The Staples collusion is real. I used to buy the staples brand cartridge because it was filled with 40ml of ink for $18 vs a HP brand filled with 12ml for $32.

[Bluestealth @ Dec 18th 2007 11:09PM]

Its hard for me to decide if HP or Lexmark are worse. They are both pretty bad.

[Jeremy K. @ Dec 18th 2007 10:29PM]

Too bad Cannon isn't being sued also. Their new ink cartridges have a chip on it that don't allow them to be refilled. If they are, the printer knows this and voids your warranty.

[- @ Dec 19th 2007 2:21AM]

My Epson had the same problem until I found a chip resetter for $3 on Ebay ($3 shipping on top). One zap for a few seconds on the chip of an empty cartridge and I can refill it, fooling the printer into letting me use the cartridge over and over.

[kuade @ Dec 18th 2007 10:37PM]

I find myself removing and reinstalling the same cartrage over and over again.

[KnightRider @ Dec 18th 2007 10:44PM]

Count me in. I will pay $50 to help. Printer business is evil. Id say a modern company like google/apple should get into it to teach these guys a lesson. The last Brother printer I used tells me it ran out of ink when I dont use it for like 15 days and after only a couple of pages printed, and it wont allow me to use ANY function on this 10 function all-in-one even if only one of the 4 catridges are out (RGB, black).

PURE EVIL

[DXPS26 @ Dec 20th 2007 3:33AM]

Go, Mr. Bedi!
Why must the inkjet printer business be run like the shaving razor buisness???

We've paid good money for HP products, they've made a profit on it, and it's unfair that they continue to feed off us by such underhanded means.

[Jeff @ Dec 18th 2007 10:41PM]

Viva la Catridge revolution !!!! seriously though, I think it IS time to fight back.

[younes @ Dec 18th 2007 10:47PM]

My multi-function HP printer/scanner would not let me scan because all of a sudden my recently installed HP color cartridge became deffective!

Why in the world would a scanner need a color ink cartridge to work? This is such a scam!

[Klopfer @ Dec 19th 2007 1:39PM]

As soon as I saw this I immediately thought, to win all he needs is ... Denny Crane.

[Yevon @ Dec 18th 2007 10:47PM]

Dude,if this guy made a site with a PayPal donation deely, I would totally send him 20 bucks. And a hug.

Boston Guy FTW.

[mik @ Dec 18th 2007 10:55PM]

can any one explain why the F they dont include printer cables with printers?.. i just spent $600 on a printer and the douche at bestbuy didnt remind me to get one :|

[bradray @ Dec 19th 2007 1:43AM]

It's because then they can try and get you to buy a $50 gold plated cable instead of including the $5 cable for free that works just as good.

[michaelscrip @ Dec 19th 2007 9:22PM]

Because you'd have quite a collection of printer cables over the years.

At least now all printers are USB. So one USB cable will work for all printers.

[T-Bone @ Dec 18th 2007 10:56PM]

Ubuntu has been telling me for weeks I was running low on black ink. Just recently, the printer itself said it was getting low. I'm just going to wait until it is actually noticeable. I hate all this BS.

[Raghu @ Dec 18th 2007 11:02PM]

I want a similar one for SMS... it is basically free for the carriers. Doesn't use any bandwidth, but we get charged 10c per, and 50c for international??? Do they need to hire translators for that?

[DarkLightConnection @ Dec 18th 2007 11:06PM]

WTF?

[omegajp @ Dec 18th 2007 11:55PM]

I double this WTF. Holy...?

[Raghu @ Dec 19th 2007 12:49AM]

Ok, for those of you who don't understand SMS, a little primer. SMS on landlines (yes, in Germany) and GSM is sent using SS7. SS7 does not take any additional bandwidth because it is a part of the system. SS7 is used to initiate rings, calling waiting signals, the dial tone, etc. So essentially there is no added strain to the system from sending text messages.

When I started using SMS in the mid-90s in Asia it was being just given away. As it became more popular carriers started charging more and more. Even in the last year or so there have been increases... http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/09/sprints-sms-price-hike-saga/ and http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2007/01/12/verizon-wireless-sms-price.

When I switched to T-Mobile in 2004 SMS to foreign countries was charged the same as local. Today it is 50c per message abroad, and it is similar with AT&T.

How do you explain the increase of price of a service that costs the carrier virtually nothing, from next to nothing to keep increasing.

Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service

[pbase @ Dec 19th 2007 2:39AM]

Raghu,

Thank you for your primer on SMS. However, most inkjet printers (the actual topic of this thread) do not have text messaging capabilities.

If they did, they would probably just send "out of ink" notices anyway.

[Raghu @ Dec 19th 2007 7:04AM]

The topic is also "antitrust lawsuits" for business practices that are really fleecing the customer. I am just suggesting that SMS is another Tech related area that there is an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen.

Yes, no ink, but please read... antitrust, collusion, price-fixing, etc... same business practices that the rest of the thread is talking about. The connection here is Logic 101.

[__redruM @ Dec 19th 2007 10:07AM]

On my phone I can pay to send an SMS or send an email for free. Guess which I chose? Pretty soon you guy in Europe will have to pay by the minute just to charge your phone. For an area that's all over Micro$oft for anticompetitive practices, they're sure lax on the telecoms.

On topic, you think the European Antitrust people would be all over this chip thing. If Mico$oft can't put IE in vista, then there's no way cannon can put a chip in it's cartridges. That's just nuts.

[Jeremy K. @ Dec 19th 2007 10:23AM]

I definitely agree Raghu!

[Jason Cox @ Dec 18th 2007 11:05PM]

I'd care except I really dont use the printer.

(it's out of paper and I'm too lazy to buy a box)

[Reader @ Dec 18th 2007 11:06PM]

I knew it! Forget oil companies or Big Tobacco, the real villain is the ink people.


On a more serious note, as ridiculous as the suit sound when scanning over, it has quite a bit more merit than 99% of them. Hope this leads to something.

[DAZA @ Dec 18th 2007 11:17PM]

That's why I gave up printing with inkjet and just rely on my trusty Fuji-Xerox laser printer I bought for $99. The drivers are amazingly simple, I don't get bloatware from them, and it prints quickly and efficiently at a cost much lower than any ink-jet printer around. My next printer purchase will probably just be a colour laser, since the one I have now is only monochrome.

[Darrell @ Dec 19th 2007 12:05AM]

The printer ink cartridge scam has been nothing but a windfall for the printer companies for years. Forcing these pirates to compete will be the best thing that has happened for the consumer.

[purezerg @ Dec 18th 2007 11:53PM]

I use epson. epson 2200 to be exact. I havent replace my inks tanks since got knows when. 2002?

woops. did i mention I am using CIS, Continous Ink System?

[David MacMillan @ Dec 19th 2007 12:26AM]

The inkjet industry is nasty already because the companies are simply charging too much profit on the cartridges.

The restrictions put on replacement cartridges exist for two reasons. Only one is legitimate. The obvious reason is that the companies simply want to make money (hence a trust tort like the one HP got caught in). The legitimate reason is that the inkjet printing head assembly is a complex and integral part of the printing process, and so the company has no way of guaranteeing that a printer will work unless they make the print head. And no one wants to have the reputation that "well, they support all refill cartridges but none of them work very well."

In a way it is similar to the Mac OS vs Windows issue. The Mac OS is extremely powerful, effective, and safe because it is designed from the ground up to run on a particular type of hardware. This is the optimal configuration. Windows is crappy because it has to be able to work on everything from an emachine to a garage-hacked PC to an EeePC to a Mac. Far from optimal.

But at least Apple doesn't charge a premium for its OS like the inkjet companies do for their cartridges. Inkjet companies sell cheap hardware and squeeze the blood out of consumers in selling replacement cartridges. Apple sells premium-configured, moderately-priced hardware and then sells their perfect little OS for practically nothing.

Either way, the company is bleh to guarantee that their product works as advertised. If you use third party inkjet cartridges, your warranty is meaningless. It's that simple.

[T-Bone @ Dec 19th 2007 10:17AM]

My parents just buy a new, cheap printer because it costs less than buying new ink. How do you explain that?

[Jeremy K. @ Dec 19th 2007 10:25AM]

lol I skimmed through your post and saw apple and decided not to read it.