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bonzobob999 · 08-08-06, 09:53 PM

Anybody care to comment on this?

US woman sues over ink cartridges
A US woman is suing Hewlett Packard (HP), saying its printer ink cartridges are secretly programmed to expire on a certain date.

The unnamed woman from Georgia says that a chip inside the cartridge tells the printer that it needs re-filling even when it does not.

The lawsuit seeks to represent anyone in the US who has purchased an HP inkjet printer since February 2001.

HP, the world's biggest printer firm, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

HP ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change.

'Shut down'

But the suit claims the chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty.

"The smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer," the suit said.

The lawsuit is asking for restitution, damages and other compensation.

The cost of printer cartridges has been a contentious issue in Europe for the last 18 months.

The price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it could cost up to £1,700 in running costs over an 18-month period due to cartridge, a study by Computeractive Magazine revealed last year.

The inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which concluded in a 2002 report that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more transparent for consumers.

LINK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4293427.stm

delambo · 09-08-06, 12:17 AM

Hmmm,

Interesting they chose not to comment!

bonzobob999 · 09-08-06, 08:03 PM

The reason I posted this is because I have a HP 2570 Photosmart printer/copy/scanner. I was printing some stuff out the other night and ran outta ink. I needed to get this stuff done so I used a refill kit that I keep handy, I mainly use it for the kids printer as they print off reams of crap. I tried printing once I had filled the black and got an error message saying "check right hand cartridge" I tried everything but could not get it to print. I assumed I had either buggered up the cartridge or the printer, so on the net I went searching for similar problem. It seems that when you buy a cartridge they now have a shelf life, but this is not based on the amount of ink in the cartridge but the onboard date. This means that theoretically you could buy a printer use it once and have to replace the cartridge if you try to use it after the expiry date. Doing some research you can actually get around it.......firstly you can remove the internal battery until the data in the printers CMOS erases or you can buy another 2 cartridges and swap them around after expiry dates ( the CMOS can only remember the dates of 2 cartridges at a time)........cartridge refill stores can also remove the restriction via an erase chip? never seen one though.

That is why the cost of printers have dropped so much......they whack you over the head with the cost of cartridges, even if you only do small amounts of printing, infact you come of worse.

What a bunch of gangsters......oh! and by the way Epson have started doing this as well as is or will Lexmark.

Incase anybody thinks I'm just a tight git, I have actually gone out and bought an extra 2 color and 2 black full capacity genuine cartridges......but will try out the 3 cartridge swap trick when the time comes.
Got them here if anybody is interested http://www.cartridgepeople.com unless you know somewhere cheaper?

the insaan · 10-08-06, 12:15 PM

it wouldnt suprise me, but now that it is out in the open it wont be long until someone finds a way of hacking the firmware on these printers or cartridges so that they do not check any dates, and it can be done.

look what we have done to cable modems and other electronic bits, soon i see another section opening up on forums, "the printer hacking foums"

delambo · 10-08-06, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the insaan

soon i see another section opening up on forums, "the printer hacking foums"

LOL but probably true

Realist · 11-08-06, 12:52 PM

Im thinking ummmmm!

08-08-06, 09:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
bonzobob999 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 181 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	HP printer cartridge expires Anybody care to comment on this? US woman sues over ink cartridges A US woman is suing Hewlett Packard (HP), saying its printer ink cartridges are secretly programmed to expire on a certain date. The unnamed woman from Georgia says that a chip inside the cartridge tells the printer that it needs re-filling even when it does not. The lawsuit seeks to represent anyone in the US who has purchased an HP inkjet printer since February 2001. HP, the world's biggest printer firm, declined to comment on the lawsuit. HP ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change. 'Shut down' But the suit claims the chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty. "The smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer," the suit said. The lawsuit is asking for restitution, damages and other compensation. The cost of printer cartridges has been a contentious issue in Europe for the last 18 months. The price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it could cost up to £1,700 in running costs over an 18-month period due to cartridge, a study by Computeractive Magazine revealed last year. The inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which concluded in a 2002 report that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more transparent for consumers. LINK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4293427.stm

09-08-06, 12:17 AM	#2 (permalink)
delambo Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: infront of my pc Posts: 426 Thanks: 0 Thanked 15 Times in 6 Posts	Re: HP printer cartridge expires Hmmm, Interesting they chose not to comment! __________________ If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

09-08-06, 08:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
bonzobob999 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 181 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: HP printer cartridge expires The reason I posted this is because I have a HP 2570 Photosmart printer/copy/scanner. I was printing some stuff out the other night and ran outta ink. I needed to get this stuff done so I used a refill kit that I keep handy, I mainly use it for the kids printer as they print off reams of crap. I tried printing once I had filled the black and got an error message saying "check right hand cartridge" I tried everything but could not get it to print. I assumed I had either buggered up the cartridge or the printer, so on the net I went searching for similar problem. It seems that when you buy a cartridge they now have a shelf life, but this is not based on the amount of ink in the cartridge but the onboard date. This means that theoretically you could buy a printer use it once and have to replace the cartridge if you try to use it after the expiry date. Doing some research you can actually get around it.......firstly you can remove the internal battery until the data in the printers CMOS erases or you can buy another 2 cartridges and swap them around after expiry dates ( the CMOS can only remember the dates of 2 cartridges at a time)........cartridge refill stores can also remove the restriction via an erase chip? never seen one though. That is why the cost of printers have dropped so much......they whack you over the head with the cost of cartridges, even if you only do small amounts of printing, infact you come of worse. What a bunch of gangsters......oh! and by the way Epson have started doing this as well as is or will Lexmark. Incase anybody thinks I'm just a tight git, I have actually gone out and bought an extra 2 color and 2 black full capacity genuine cartridges......but will try out the 3 cartridge swap trick when the time comes. Got them here if anybody is interested http://www.cartridgepeople.com unless you know somewhere cheaper?

10-08-06, 12:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
the insaan The Village Idiot Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Burnley Posts: 1,616 Thanks: 136 Thanked 102 Times in 65 Posts	Re: HP printer cartridge expires it wouldnt suprise me, but now that it is out in the open it wont be long until someone finds a way of hacking the firmware on these printers or cartridges so that they do not check any dates, and it can be done. look what we have done to cable modems and other electronic bits, soon i see another section opening up on forums, "the printer hacking foums" __________________

11-08-06, 12:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
Realist Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Here. Posts: 2,005 Thanks: 0 Thanked 45 Times in 21 Posts	Re: HP printer cartridge expires Im thinking ummmmm!