CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Judge Rules HP Must Face Class Action Lawsuit Over Disabled Printers
Kevin Hurler
Wed, August 16, 2023
Image: Dmitry S. Gordienko (Shutterstock)
Printers are one of the great necessary evils in our modern world, much to the chagrin of consumers. Now a federal judge has ruled that HP must face a class action lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs argue that the company’s all-in-one printers brick themselves when the ink runs low.
The lawsuit was filed in June in the Northern District of California federal court, but the Associated Press reports that yesterday, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman tossed out the company’s attempt to dismiss the suit. The lawsuit argues that HP’s all-in-one printers cease to function once any of its ink cartridges run dry—including all non-printing functions. In other words, if ink levels in one of the four cartridges (black, cyan, yellow, magenta) are deemed too low by the printer, users have found they are unable to scan or fax an item.
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“What HP fails to disclose is that, if even one of the ink cartridges is too low, empty, or damaged, the scanning function on the ‘all-in-one’ printer will be disabled and will not work as advertised,” the complaint reads. “None of HP’s advertising or marketing materials disclose the basic fact that its All-in-One Printers do not scan documents when the devices have low or empty ink cartridges.”
HP did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the pending case.
The plaintiffs initially filed the lawsuit last year. Judge Freeman dismissed that lawsuit, but allowed them to refile, with the updated complaint submitted earlier this summer.
This is not the first time HP has landed in hot water over shady practices concerning its printers. Gizmodo previously reported that HP printers were rejecting third-party ink, forcing consumers to buy the company’s own overpriced ink cartridges. HP is not alone, however, in allegedly bricking its printers when the ink runs dry—Canon faced a similar lawsuit back in 2021. Likewise, Epson was accused of having printers shut down after some arbitrary amount of use.
Gizmodo
HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on multifunction printers when ink runs low
DAVID HAMILTON
Updated Tue, August 15, 2023
This Aug. 15, 2019, photo shows the HP logo on Hewlett-Packard printer ink cartridges at a store in Manchester, N.H. HP Inc. has failed to shunt aside claims in a lawsuit that it disables scanners and other functions on its multifunction printers whenever the ink runs low. The suit claims that HP's so-called “all-in-one” printers provide consumers no indication the devices require printer ink to scan documents or send faxes.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — HP has failed to shunt aside class-action legal claims that it disables the scanners on its multifunction printers when their ink runs low. Though not for lack of trying.
On Aug. 10, a federal judge ruled that HP Inc. must face a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company designs its “all-in-one” inkjet printers to disable scanning and faxing functions whenever a single printer ink cartridge runs low. The company had sought — for the second time — to dismiss the lawsuit on technical legal grounds.
“It is well-documented that ink is not required in order to scan or to fax a document, and it is certainly possible to manufacture an all-in-one printer that scans or faxes when the device is out of ink,” the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint. “Indeed, HP designs its all-in-one printer products so they will not work without ink. Yet HP does not disclose this fact to consumers.”
The lawsuit charges that HP deliberately withholds this information from consumers to boost profits from the sale of expensive ink cartridges.
Color printers require four ink cartridges -- one black and a set of three cartridges in cyan, magenta and yellow for producing colors. Some will also refuse to print if one of the color cartridges is low, even in black-and-white mode.
HP declined to comment on the issue, citing the pending litigation. The company’s court filings in the case have generally not addressed the substance of the plaintiff’s allegations.
In early 2022, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the complaint on legal grounds but did not address the lawsuit's claims. The judge allowed the plaintiffs to amend their claim and resubmit it. On Aug. 10, the judge largely rejected HP's request to dismiss the revised complaint, allowing the case to proceed.
All-in-one inkjet printers generally seem like a bargain compared to the cost of separate devices with scanning, copying and fax functions. For instance, HP currently sells its all-in-one OfficeJet Pro 8034e online for just $159. But its least expensive standalone scanner, the ScanJet Pro s2, lists for $369 — more than twice the cost of the multifunction printer.
Of course, only one of these devices requires printer ink. “Printer ink is wildly expensive,” Consumer Reports states in its current printer buying guide, noting that consumer ink costs can easily run more than $70 a year.
Worse, a significant amount of ink is never actually used to print documents because it's consumed by printer maintenance cycles. In 2018, Consumer Reports tested hundreds of all-in-one inkjet printers and found that, when used intermittently, many models delivered less than half of their ink to printed documents. A few managed no more than 20% to 30%.
HP isn't alone in facing such legal complaints. A different set of plaintiffs sued the U.S. unit of printer and camera maker Canon Inc. in 2021 for similarly handicapping its all-in-one printers without disclosure. The parties settled that case in late 2022. Terms were not disclosed.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — HP has failed to shunt aside class-action legal claims that it disables the scanners on its multifunction printers when their ink runs low. Though not for lack of trying.
On Aug. 10, a federal judge ruled that HP Inc. must face a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company designs its “all-in-one” inkjet printers to disable scanning and faxing functions whenever a single printer ink cartridge runs low. The company had sought — for the second time — to dismiss the lawsuit on technical legal grounds.
“It is well-documented that ink is not required in order to scan or to fax a document, and it is certainly possible to manufacture an all-in-one printer that scans or faxes when the device is out of ink,” the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint. “Indeed, HP designs its all-in-one printer products so they will not work without ink. Yet HP does not disclose this fact to consumers.”
The lawsuit charges that HP deliberately withholds this information from consumers to boost profits from the sale of expensive ink cartridges.
Color printers require four ink cartridges -- one black and a set of three cartridges in cyan, magenta and yellow for producing colors. Some will also refuse to print if one of the color cartridges is low, even in black-and-white mode.
HP declined to comment on the issue, citing the pending litigation. The company’s court filings in the case have generally not addressed the substance of the plaintiff’s allegations.
In early 2022, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the complaint on legal grounds but did not address the lawsuit's claims. The judge allowed the plaintiffs to amend their claim and resubmit it. On Aug. 10, the judge largely rejected HP's request to dismiss the revised complaint, allowing the case to proceed.
All-in-one inkjet printers generally seem like a bargain compared to the cost of separate devices with scanning, copying and fax functions. For instance, HP currently sells its all-in-one OfficeJet Pro 8034e online for just $159. But its least expensive standalone scanner, the ScanJet Pro s2, lists for $369 — more than twice the cost of the multifunction printer.
Of course, only one of these devices requires printer ink. “Printer ink is wildly expensive,” Consumer Reports states in its current printer buying guide, noting that consumer ink costs can easily run more than $70 a year.
Worse, a significant amount of ink is never actually used to print documents because it's consumed by printer maintenance cycles. In 2018, Consumer Reports tested hundreds of all-in-one inkjet printers and found that, when used intermittently, many models delivered less than half of their ink to printed documents. A few managed no more than 20% to 30%.
HP isn't alone in facing such legal complaints. A different set of plaintiffs sued the U.S. unit of printer and camera maker Canon Inc. in 2021 for similarly handicapping its all-in-one printers without disclosure. The parties settled that case in late 2022. Terms were not disclosed.
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