Last week, a California federalย judge has trimmed some claims from a HP ink cartridge monopoly class action lawsuit.
In October 2016, consumers Richard San Miguel and DeLores Lawty filed a class action lawsuit claiming thatย Hewlettย Packardย Co. unlawfully updated printers with firmware that renderedย them incompatible with non-HP brand printer ink.
ย U.S. District Judgeย Edward J. Davila rejected HPโs request to dismiss the case entirely, trimming some of the consumersโ claims against the company, and stating that the company must defend themselves against a revised version of the allegations.
According to San Miguel and Lawty, they initially purchased HP printers in 2015. Until 2016, they were able to use ink cartridges manufactured by companies other than HP. Then, in 2016, they state that their printers displayed an โerrorโ message when the consumers tried to use ink cartridges produced by companies other than HP.
Allegedly, the error message read that the ink cartridges were defective, not installed at all, or were empty. The consumers claim that they received this message when none of the problems stated in the error message were true. Allegedly, the error message was accompanied by a link directing consumers to HPโs website, selling HP ink cartridges.
Theย plaintiffs claim that the company did this to increase their profits, as HP allegedly makes significantly more money from the sale of ink cartridges than they do from the sale of printers themselves.
Allegedly, thousands of consumers had similar experiences, stating that HP did not tell consumers it was installing new firmware onto existing printers, rendering printers that had once worked with ink cartridges of many brands only compatible with HP cartridges.
In their original HP ink cartridge class action lawsuit, San Miguel and Lawty claimed that HP installed new firmware onto existing printers โwithout authorization.โ However, Judge Davila determined that the consumers had admitted that HP had โauthorized accessโ as the makers of the printers, and failed to sufficiently show that the company had โexceeded authorized access.โ Thus, Judge Davila ruled to throw out this claim from the HP printer class action lawsuit.
San Miguel and Lawty seek damages from the HP ink cartridge class action lawsuit, claiming that they and thousands of other consumers were financially injured from being unable to use the ink cartridges of their choice and being forced to purchase HP ink cartridges. They propose injunctive relief that would require the company to cease blocking consumers from using third party ink cartridges.
The plaintiffsย allege that HPโs action violates Section 502 of the California Computer Crime Law. Some claims of violation were cut from the case, but three survived. Judge Davila claims that the consumers did propose that the court should interpret a part of the law to apply to firmware as opposed to just to hacking, as the law is usually applied. Though HP argues for a narrower interpretation of the law, Judge Davila saw enough merit in the consumersโย allegations toย keep consumer protection claims.
San Miguel and Lawty are represented by Elizabethย Kramer of Girard Gibbs LLP.
The HP Ink Cartridge Monopoly Class Action Lawsuit is In re: HPย Printerย Firmwareย Updateย Litigation,ย Case No. 5:16-cv-05820-EJD, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.
UPDATE: On Sept. 18, 2018, customers reached a$1.5 million deal with HPending a class action lawsuit over third party ink cartridges and an allegedly fake error message that would stop consumers from being able to use them.UPDATE 2: February 2019, the HP OfficeJet printer class action settlement is now open.Click here to file a claim.ย UPDATE 3: On Nov. 26, 2019, our readers started receiving settlement checks from the HP printer firmware resolutionworth as much as $164.20.Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!
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790 thoughts onHP Canโt Escape Ink Cartridge Monopoly Class Action Lawsuit
Add me please. This has infuriated me for years!!
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I have both an HP tablet and printer. Please add me
Please add me to this
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I purchased a HP printer from Office Depot, they had me buy a card that would let me print so many pages a month, the they would stop letting you print entirely if you use all of the prints for that month. If you used all the prints/copy you can not make anymore copies nor will it let you make copies with your printer that you purchased unless you repurchase their ink cartridges. I presently have a brand new HP printer that I can not use, unless I resign up for continuing with HP. Please tell me how to sign up for this class action suit. Shirley Taylor
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Iโve purchased many non hp cartridges and got the same message please add me also.
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Add me please.