HP Locks Its Printers From Using Third-Party Inks After Firmware Update

HP Locks Its Printers From Using Third-Party Inks After Firmware Update

Previously only a warning message noting print quality may be affected if any non-HP inks are used, but now HP locks them out outright.

Image: u/grhhull (Reddit)

Some users found it the hard way when HP locks out their printers from using non-HP inks: Reddit user u/grhhull posted with the image above and has inquired HP on the matter. The company confirms that “this is due to the recent ‘update’ of all printers”.

HP has gained some amounts of notoriety with its Dynamic Security feature for its printing products, and has even got themselves in hot legal waters a few years ago. The company cited these reasons for the feature: “HP uses dynamic security measures to protect the quality of our customer experience, maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property.”

We don’t know exactly which models are getting this “update” so far, but HP has apparently said this on some of the model pages: “Cartridges using a non-HP chip may not work, and those that work today may not work in the future.” One way of avoiding this is to simply not update your printer. This isn’t new, though – this Twitter thread from late last year has enraged the user so much so they stopped using HP printers altogether (and has since bought the competing Brother printers instead, as suggested).

When Ars probed, HP came back to them with rather vague response. Comments under the article has pointed out that HP’s business model meant selling cheap printers at a loss, but that requires selling inks to recoup the costs back, which may explain HP’s aggressive measures against the use of third-party inks.

Source: PCMag | Ars Technica

Pokdepinion: Bad move, HP.