| Ink Cartridge Rip Off |
| by: Iggy Quazi |
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Have you ever thought that the running cost of keeping your
printer topped up with ink seems a bit expensive? Well, you are
not alone, recent tests have concluded that some branded printer
inks are among the world\'s most expensive liquids, with a price
per ounce outpacing brands like Dom Perignon Champagne and
Chanel Perfume. If you were to fill your car petrol tank with
the same ink, it would cost you around £40,000, makes unleaded
look rather cheap! For years, printer manufacturers have coupled
low-priced inkjet printers to high-priced disposable ink
cartridges, making more profit on the cartridges than the
printers. HP\'s Imaging and Printing group made sales of $6.1bn
and posted a profit of $932m in the first quarter of 2004.
However, independent businesses have been manufacturing,
recycling or refilling ink and toner cartridges and selling to
consumers for much lower prices. Recently it has been alleged
that technology, mostly in the form of chips on the cartridges
are being used to prevent or restrict refills and that the
cartridges read as being empty, way before they have actually
run out of ink. HP is facing a class action suit in the US from
a woman who claims the vendor\'s printer cartridges stop working
at a predetermined date, rather than when they run out of ink.
In 2003 the Dutch Consumer Association, Consumentenbond, made
similar allegations against Epson. Consumentenbond advised its
members not to buy Epson inkjet cartridge printers because it
claimed Epson\'s cartridges contained a chip which stopped them
working even when they had ink left in them. The chip doesn\'t
indicate the amount of ink left in the cartridge, the
association claims, but stops after a number of print runs, even
when there is enough ink available for more prints.
Consumentenbond later withdrew its claims.
The British Consumer Association\'s Which? magazine printed
similar accusations, advising consumers to steer clear of brand
name printer cartridges and pick cheaper alternatives instead.
Epson denies any wrongdoing, saying that the chip is preventing
users from running out of ink and said the remaining ink was
required to ensure proper printing. Epson also questions the
test methods being used. In the US, Epson has filed patent
infringement lawsuits against two companies that manufacture
replacement cartridges for its printers. Epson claims that
certain cartridges made by the two companies infringe on several
of its cartridge-related patents. The lawsuits are not an effort
to stamp out the third-party cartridge market and are aimed only
at companies that have infringed Epson\'s patents, says Alastair
Bourne, a spokesperson for Seiko Epson in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the Lexmark DMCA case (where they sued another
company for figuring out a way to allow non-Lexmark cartridges
to work in their printers) continues to move forward with the
Electronic Frontier Foundation filing a brief against Lexmark.
Last year, several printer manufacturers, including HP and
Lexmark, tried to stop the European Union passing regulation
that would outlaw the use of these chips, but their pleas were
largely ignored. The anger over printer company tactics may lead
to a more formal investigation at some point to investigate
these practices, already, in the UK the Office of Fair Trading
is looking into the issue. By 2006 the use of chips to prevent
or restrict refills will be strictly forbidden under European
law.
The above does not represent any opinion of Mouse2House, rather
it is a summary of news and events related to the exciting world
of ink cartridges and is for your information only. If you are
interested in our opinion, here it is:
Over years of experience we feel that on most occasions the
original branded cartridge specified for your printer will give
you the best prints, however this can be quite expensive. If the
manufacturers charged more reasonable prices, the market would
be of less interest to counterfeiters and consumers would have
less interest to find marginally cheaper products. There would
not be any reason to use questionable tactics and huge amounts
of money would not have to be wasted on developing unnecessary
technology.
As the market stands today, there is understandably a huge
demand for low cost printer consumables and a big manufacturing
industry exists to supply alternative products, some very good
quality and others very poor. For this reason, at Mouse2House we
offer both \"officially sourced\" original branded products as
well as selected and tested, high quality alternative products
that are cheaper, leaving the final choice to you, our customer.
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Apple, HP, IBM, Lexmark, Canon, Epson, Xerox and
other manufacturer brand names and logos are registered trademarks
of their respective owners. Any use of a brand name or model
designation for a non-OEM cartridge is made solely for purposes of
demonstrating compatibility. Coupons are not valid for OEM
cartridges, solid ink, or media products. |
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