Why Is a Banned Chinese Company Still Dominating the U.S. Toner Market?

Why are HP and Brother not suing Ninestar? 
Let’s not sugarcoat this: Ninestar is a Chinese company banned by the U.S. government for using slave labor, and yet—right now—they are still flooding the U.S. market with clone toner cartridges, ripping off American companies, and laughing all the way to the bank. In the first half of 2025, Ninestar reported revenue of RMB 74.2 billion, which equates to approximately $10.2 billion or €9.4 billion

Where the hell are HP and Brother?
These are American giants. Billion-dollar behemoths with deep legal war chests. Yet when it comes to defending their own IP, their own market share, and their own country’s labor standards… they’re curled up in the fetal position, doing nothing. Particularly in the case of Brother Industries, where Ninestar produces more clone cartridges in Asia than Brother does its own originals.

Ninestar should be a national security scandal.
Think about it: Banned under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2023. Accused of benefiting from forced labor camps. Still operating freely, building e-commerce sites for U.S. resellers in 2025. Still dumping illegal clone toners into the U.S. through Amazon.

And let’s not kid ourselves—this isn’t happening in a vacuum. This is happening because there’s collusion at the highest levels. Lobbyists, corporate enablers, spineless regulators, and maybe even people inside the White House. Ninestar doesn’t just survive a federal ban and keep growing unless somebody in power is protecting them.

Want proof? Ask yourself this:
If HP had the political muscle to push through a $14 billion Juniper acquisition using backroom deals and Trump-friendly lobbyists, why can’t they use that same influence to block a Chinese company that’s literally banned?

Because maybe they don’t want to. Maybe they’re just as happy to quietly profit while pretending to be victims. Or maybe they’re scared of pissing off Amazon, the tech Godfather of fake toner sales, which lets Chinese clone sellers run wild on its marketplace—because it’s insanely profitable. Amazon doesn’t care. Why should they? They get a cut of every sale. They’re like the modern-day Silk Road for counterfeit printer cartridges, only this time it’s not drugs—it’s China-backed IP theft, human rights abuse, and market manipulation, all in a Prime box delivered tomorrow.

Oh, and don’t forget: Xerox, Sharp, Konica Minolta—American and Japanese companies—are all still happily sourcing toners from Ninestar. Even if that means turning a blind eye to where it comes from. Forced labor? Patent theft? Who cares—it’s cheap. Let’s call it what it is: corporate cowardice wrapped in a flag of hypocrisy.

HP and Brother could end this tomorrow.
They could sue Ninestar. They could sue U.S. resellers pushing banned goods. They could pressure Customs to enforce the damn ban. They could burn clone toner off Amazon with a single court order. But they won’t.

This isn’t about law or morality—it’s about money. And money talks louder than ethics, louder than labor laws, louder than national security. So Ninestar keeps winning. And America keeps losing. HP and Brother: if you keep sitting on your asses while a banned foreign company guts your business and sells blood-stained toner in your backyard, then maybe you deserve to be replaced.