HP Responds to Tonernews’ Ninestar Revelations: Damage Control or Truth?

It seems HP is finally waking up after our two explosive articles—one exposing HP’s utter lack of action while Ninestar floods the globe with counterfeit toner, and the other revealing that HP is essentially in bed with China’s Ninestar when it comes to toner chips. Joe Pacula, SVP and Division President of HP’s Print Supplies Business Worldwide, has issued a statement below touting a few minor counterfeit toner and ink busts in Europe, but conveniently ignores the huge scale of this counterfeiting operation in the U.S., South America, and—most crucially—Asia, where Ninestar churns out more counterfeit toner than HP, Canon, and Brother combined.

Behind Every Genuine HP Printer Cartridge Is a Promise We Protect
Joe Pacula, SVP and Division President, Print Supplies Business Worldwide
https://www.hp.com/us-en/newsroom/blogs/2025/behind-every-genuine-hp-printer-cartridge-is-a-promise-we-protect.html

The truth is, HP and Brother could put a stop to this tomorrow.
They could sue Ninestar. They could go after U.S. resellers peddling these banned goods. They could apply pressure to Customs to enforce the damn ban. They could wipe out counterfeit toner listings on Amazon with a single court order. Yet, none of this has happened. Why?

SIDE-DEAL: Is APEX-Ninestar Manufacturing Toner Chips
for HP and Brother in Exchange for Access to the Massive Chinese Market?
While HP, Canon, Brother, and Epson are losing millions to counterfeit toner products, Ninestar shows no hesitation in flooding the market with knockoffs. They even release these counterfeit toners and inks at the same time as legitimate HP and Brother products, pushing them out alongside new releases. This happens right under the radar, with Amazon facilitating the distribution—and yet, there’s NO response from Hp or Brother. In 2019, Tonernews.com exposed this blatant piracy when Printrite and Ninestar were caught selling HP’s Neverstop Laser MFP 1200/MFP 1005 toners and chips before HP’s own authorized distributors had even received stock.

OEMs need to stop playing nice and adopt a more aggressive stance. But if the rumors are true, a potential side deal with the Chinese government could be too lucrative for them to walk away from. The “Big Four” are being outsmarted by Ninestar—and this isn’t just business as usual. It’s corporate collusion, plain and simple. They may very well be in bed with the very people who are destroying their own brands.