HP is yet again blocking third-party ink cartridges from working with their printers.
A recent firmware update has blocked the use of non-HP ink, with an error message reading:
“The indicated cartridges have been blocked by the printer firmware because they contain a non-HP chip. This printer is intended to work only with new or reused cartridges that have a new or reused HP chip.”
HP calls this measure ‘dynamic security’, and explains it is designed to “protect the quality of our customer experience, maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property.”
HP has similar policies in place since 2016, and has been hit with numerous class action suits over the exclusive nature of this ‘dynamic security’. The company reached a A$2.27 million settlement in the US based on the firmware acting as ‘malware’ and “adding, deleting or altering code, diminishing the capabilities of HP printers, and rendering the competitors’ supply cartridges incompatible with HP printers.”
In 2018, the ACCC probed HP’s use of this ‘dynamic security’ firmware and found it breached the law. HP were fined $3 million and required to “make it clear on its packaging and at point of sale, where printers contain the DSF technology and that it is designed to prevent the use of non-HP ink cartridges.”
At the time HP claimed it “uses dynamic security in select printers (a) to protect the quality of the consumer experience from potential functionality risks that can be introduced using cartridges with cloned chips or modified or non-HP circuitry, (b) to protect HP’s intellectual property, and (c) to reduce counterfeiting of HP supplies and warranty fraud.”
HP has also been hit with a similar fine in the EU.
The current firmware updates — released in December 2022 and January 2023 — note “dynamic security measures, which are used to block cartridges using a non-HP chip or modified or non-HP electronic circuitry” and note that “periodic firmware updates will maintain the effectiveness of the dynamic security measures and block cartridges that previously worked.”
