Update:ย
- In a joint notice filed July 12 in a California federal court, HP and a certified class of consumers reached a settlement in principle and are working to finalize the agreement.ย
- Consumers sued the printer company in 2020, alleging it pushed a software update to its printers to make them incompatible with other brandsโ ink cartridges.ย
- They allege HP transmitted firmware updates without authorization to HP printers through the internet, with the first update pushed around Nov. 2020. These firmware updates reportedly act as malware, โadding, deleting or altering code, diminishing the capabilities of HP printers and rendering the competitorsโ supply cartridges incompatible with HP printers,โ the plaintiffs claim.
HP ink cartridge class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: HP Inc. is being sued by customers.
- Why: The customers allege HP pushed a firmware update that made its printers incompatible with other brandsโ ink cartridges.
- Where: Nationwide
(Oct. 16, 2021)
A class action lawsuit alleging HP pushed a software update to its printers to make them incompatible with other brandsโ ink cartridges can mostly go ahead, a judge has ruled.
A California federal judge ruled Oct. 15 that most of the class action allegations filed by printer owners against HP, Inc. could go ahead, throwing out only three of the claims.ย
The claims against HP were first filed in Dec. 2020. The plaintiffs allege that HP transmitted firmware updates without authorization to HP printers through the Internet, with the first update pushed around Nov. 2020.
These firmware updates allegedly act as malware, โadding, deleting or altering code, diminishing the capabilities of HP printers, and rendering the competitorsโ supply cartridges incompatible with HP printers,โ the plaintiffs said.
HP forced customers to purchase HP ink cartridges, class action alleges
The class action lawsuit said the company told them that HP printers have a โsupply problem,โ when HP had in fact intentionally caused the issue by sending the โmalwareโ to render third-party ink cartridges incompatible with HP products.ย
โPlaintiffs allege that as a result of this malware, HP printer owners are either forced to buy HP cartridges or they cannot use their printers until third parties can develop workarounds in their products,โ the lawsuit states.ย
They also allege HP used this firmware update process to conceal the fact it is actually collecting data on whether consumers are using HP or its competitorsโ cartridges without their consent.ย
The lawsuit is looking to represent anyone nationwide who had a HP Color LaserJet Pro M254, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281, or any other model affected by HP malware transmissions.ย
The plaintiffs are Mobile Emergency Housing Corp., Performance Automotive & Tire Center and David Justin Lynchโs.
The plaintiffs are suing under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA), California False Advertising Law, California Unfair Competition Law and California Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
The order filed Oct. 15 allowed most of the claims to go ahead, apart from allegations regarding one section of CFAA, trespass to chattels and one claim based on one part of CDAFA.
The news comes as HP faces another class action lawsuit, with a consumer alleging that he and others with an HP โInstant Inkโ subscription are experiencing faulty, error-prone cartridges.ย
Do you own an HP printer that suddenly wouldnโt work with other brandsโ ink cartridges? Let us know your experience in the comments!ย
The plaintiffs are represented by Mark L. Javitch of Javitch Law Office and Thomas A. Zimmerman Jr. of Zimmerman Law Offices PC.
The HP Software Update Ink Cartridge Class Action Lawsuit is Mobile Emergency Housing Corp. et al. v. HP Inc., Case No. 5:20-cv-09157, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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1,748 thoughts onHP agrees to settlement in overpriced, incompatible ink cartridge class action
My printer started doing the same thing today after a firmware updateโฆ. Merry Christmas to me! Please add me to the lawsuit as well.,
Sign me up. I stupidly clicked to update the drivers on my PC and lo-and-behold it also automatically updated the firmware on my HP Color LaserJet MFP M281fdw. And now, because I have 1 non-HP cartridge I have been using successfully for MONTHS I can no longer print! This is total BS!
After firmware update laser jet blocked toner cartridges. You canโt downgrade the firmware back to the old version because HP took it down.
intentionally damaging or disabling peoples personal property to force them to buy there products is a real POS thing to and Iโll NEVER purchase another HP anything.
This is whatโs know as extortion. If HP was a car brand, we could only buy gas at their dealershipsโฆ for $12 a gallon.
democrats must own hp through some meansโฆ.
they seek to control and holding us hostage due to inks and
printer virusesโฆ.myoffice jets 6600 were taken over by hp and supposedly made internet useful with each unit having its own url to be used remotely and i do not know how to text at 86 years of age after 55 minutes my lj2100tn finall broke free and printed one page from century linkโฆwow dec 22, 2021โฆa drybarren ground in utah drouth like calif.
Today I was hit by the HP ransomware. HP downloaded firmware to my HP LaserJetPro MFP281cdw color printer that has disabled it until I pay up by purchasing overpriced HP branded cartridges.
I have had this printer for several years with no problem. I have been using non HP cartridges for many months now. This afternoon December 21,2021 after printing fine earlier in the day โ my printer suddenly stopped printing. I am getting a message: โindicated cartridges blocked for containing a non HP chipโ and printer will not print with the non HP cartridges.
HP makes it appear that there are settings to allow you to use non HP branded cartridges:
These settings are in HP software under System/Supply Settings area. They are called: cartridge policy and cartridge protection both of which I have set to Off.
However, these settings do NOTHING and the printer will not print using these cartridges.
HP has turned my printer into a brick and basically installed ransomware onto the printer. Unless I purchase HP branded cartridges I can no use my printer.
This printer is out of warrantee and off brand cartridges would not void the warrantee.
Furthermore HP has deliberately removed older version of firmware for this printer so that customers can not downgrade the firmware to a previous one that does not block non HP cartridges. Evidence of this can be seen in reddit thread on this problem that started in 2020 and where posters could get the old firmware from HP site and the point where HP deleted the old firmware.
This is a calculated and callus move by HP at a time when people are working from home and even more dependent upon home printing.
It is predatory practice to force people to purchase HP branded replacement cartridges at almost $300 during a time when many are out of jobs.
My HP Laserjet P1109w quit printing after I updated the device drivers and software for the printer. I now Have 3 new third party toner cartridges that I canโt use that use to work just fine. Please add me to the lawsuit.
Verified that this was the issue by buying an HP cartridge and printer is working again. Teir cartridge cost 5 times as much as ones I had been using.
Please add me to this lawsuit. This is clearly ransomware. I will never again purchase anything from HP, and certainly not their exorbitantly priced cartridges. My next purchase will be a non-HP printer.
I would like to be added. I have a HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281 CDW that just stopped working, have had this printer since 2018 and I use compatible ink, that I have used since I purchased this printer, with no issues. I can purchase generic xl in all 3 colors and 2 xl in black for $60. If I were to purchase this thorough HP it would cost me over $400. Because I was not able to use the printer, I had to purchase black and paid $64 just for the black. It is not even xl that was around $94.
This is such a RIP OFF. I should be able to choose how I buy ink!
Add me
Total Rip Off by HP. I have a HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281 CDW which suddenly started blocking third party cartridges that I have used fine until now. HP say this is enabled by their Dynamic Security system (see http://www.hp.com/learn/ds). They clearly just updated the firmware in my printer to nobble my cartridges. The provision of updates and monitoring of activity via internet should at the very least require user agreement by default, not the other way round.
A more consumer friendly and less egregiously anti-competitive way for HP to deal with this would be to compete on the basis of price/quality of cartridges but maybe they are too cowardly to do that.
Good luck in having this appalling behavior sanctioned.