Epson Class Action Alleges Printer Ink Defect

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Epson America Inc. by consumers who claim that the company is trying to corner the market on refilled ink cartridges by disabling Epson printers when a non-Epson print cartridge is installed.

Plaintiffs William Mondigo, Felix Rabinovich, Richard Famiglietti, Jesse Gordon, Gregory Szot, Martin Dignard, and Michael Kovach say that Epson designed and delivered software to their printers that purposefully disabled those printers when non-Epson ink cartridges are installed.

The plaintiffs claim that these software updates ruin their printers and they have been forced to purchase Epson ink cartridges, which are more expensive than third-party cartridges.

The Epson class action lawsuit states that there is nothing wrong with the third-party ink cartridges that would cause them to fail when placed in the printer. The plaintiffs say third-party cartridges function without an issue if they don’t have the updated Epson printer software installed.

Epson allegedly did not inform printer owners that the Epson printer software updates would prevent their printers from working if they had third-party ink cartridges installed.

To be sure, the Epson Software License tells customers that the firmware updates will improve their printers and fix known issues, the plaintiffs maintain.

The printer owners claim that the sale of replacement cartridges is an important revenue stream for Epson as their ink cartridges range in price from $10 to $150 or even more for higher end printers.

According to the customers, the cost of placement ink cartridges over the life of the printer is sometimes more than the cost of the printer itself.

The ink cartridge for Epson class action lawsuit also points to numerous postings on consumer and technology websites citing the issues that they were having with third-party ink cartridges.

The Epson printer software class action lawsuit goes on to say that the 2018 Epson Annual Report acknowledges that third-party ink cartridges can be used in Epson printers. However, the company claims that the third-party ink cartridges can cut into its bottom line and may result in losing market share.

“Epson relies on firmware updates it pushes out to unsuspecting customers to block the use of third-party ink cartridges—thus allowing Epson to keep that substantial profit stream captive,” the Epson printer software class action lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs claim that the software updates that are pushed out to customers do not alert printer owners that they will render their printer inoperable if they attempt to use third-party ink cartridges. Instead, consumers think that the updates are supposed to provide fixes and other improvements.

After the updates are installed on the customers’ Epson printers to detect if they are using a third-party ink cartridge, the printers display a message that the printer is having a “Maintenance Error” that it does not recognize the ink cartridge when the third-party ink cartridge is installed.

The customers state that this error message is in direct contradiction to Epson’s representations to the plaintiffs and Class Members that the Epson printer updates were meant to fix or improve printer functionality.

“Epson neglected to inform Plaintiffs and others like them that accepting Updates would potentially disable their machine and, at the very least, force them into purchasing Epson ink cartridges,” the Epson printer software class action lawsuit goes on to state.

The plaintiffs say that they did not authorize Epson to disable their printers to prevent them from using cheaper third-party alternatives to Epson’s own ink cartridges. They claim that Epson exceeded their authority when it disabled their printers.

In addition, the plaintiffs maintain that the third-party ink cartridges were not defective or incompatible, as they would have worked in Epson printers until the company intentionally altered the software that controlled the printers.

The printer owners claim that Epson’s conduct caused harm to customers by forcing them to purchase more expensive ink cartridges and rendering their less expensive cartridges as useless as a means to maintain market share and profits.

The plaintiffs also say that Epson could have created reasons for Epson customers to use ink cartridges for Epson. To be sure, the company could have emphasized that Epson printers were of higher quality.

Also, Epson could have reportedly won over customers by providing superior customer experiences rather than secretively causing functioning printers to stop working. 

“Epson’s conduct was intentional and designed to suppress competition, and resulted in forcing Epson customers to pay for Epson’s more expensive ink,” the Epson printer software class action states.

The plaintiffs say that a letter was sent by the Electronic Freedom Foundation to the Attorney General of Texas detailing Epson’s conduct, asking the Attorney General to investigate Epson’s practices of disabling printers when third-party ink cartridges are installed.

Do you own an Epson printer and can’t use third-party ink cartridges? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by (Eddie) Jae K. Kim, Edwin J. Kipela, James P. McGraw, and Eric D. Zard or Carson Lynch, LLP and Jonathan M. Jagher of Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC.

The Epson Printer Software Class Action Lawsuit is William Mondigo, et al. v. Epson America Inc., Case No. 2:20-cv-04400, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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