It is a well known fact that producers are not making huge
profits from selling printers, but from selling supplies associated to these
devices: toner, paper, etc. It’s easily understood that each company tries to
distribute its own supplies
and that using third party supplies might damage your
printer and cancels the warranty.
Refilling cartridges is also condemned
by the producer.
In conclusion, Hewlett-Packard retaliated and sued two
companies, claiming they violated several licenses for ink cartridges and
refilling systems owned by HP. The companies in question are InkCycle and
RhinoTek.
The second company was charged with false publicity for
presenting refilled cartridges as new and original ones.
According to a
recent study, it was proven that 10-15% of the cartridge market is represented
by refills, fact which translates into a heavy loss for the PRINTING Solution
producers.
And for decreasing this loss, several top companies employed
dubious solutions which forced the users to replace these cartridges after a
certain period of time, regardless of the quantity pr quality of ink left.
This method determined several Americans to sue the number one producer
of printers, users condemning “the programming” system of cartridges that
rendered them useless after a certain period of time, regardless of the quantity
of toner left. HP’s ink cartridges contain a controller that allows the
notification of very low ink levels.