HP Cleared On Charges Of Deceiving Consumers With Half-Filled Ink Cartridges
from the deceive-away dept
It's amazing how many different stories there have been lately about ink jet printer ink cartridges. There was the hype-filled stories of ink jet makers warning everyone of the (ooooh, scary!) dangers of not buying their own ink jet cartridges, followed quickly by the story showing that some printer manufacturers are trying to force users to throw out old cartridges even when they have lots of ink. The latest is a series of class-action lawsuits filed against HP, arguing that they were deceptive in advertising on the box that it includes an ink cartridge. It turns out that it includes an "economy" ink cartridge which is only half-full. The argument is that the consumer buying the printer isn't going to know that, and actually thinks he or she is getting $20 to $40 more of product than they're really getting. However, a jury in North Carolina has ruled in favor of HP, saying that they didn't believe this practice was deceptive. Even though it doesn't say it's a half-cartridge on the box, it does inside the box. Of course, I don't see how you read what's inside the box until after you've bought it.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
HP cleared of selling half full in cartridges...
Meanwhile in other news, printer "manufactures" are now paying individuals to pickup their latest model printer.
International paper reports record profits and McDonals ceases to farm cattle in South America because no new plots of land have recently had their trees harvested.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Buy a laser printer
Uneducated people and tie-ins by printer makers with new computers are to blame.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Buy a laser printer
When the cartrige costs $80 and the printer costs $300, I imagine they have to do this to compete with other printers. I imagine, with inkjet printers costing under $50 and cartriges over $20, HP had the same reason for doing this.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Suppose 1/2 the payment had bounced?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cheap Printing
[ link to this | view in thread ]