Canon Faces Lawsuit for Disabling Printer Features after Ink Runs Out

Peter_Brosdahl

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A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Canon for disabling the scan and fax features of select all-in-one printers when the ink has run low or is out. The lawsuit filed in New York on October 12 alleges that Canon has misled customers by not informing them that this will happen.



Ink is not a necessary component to scan a document.However, the All-in-One Printers are packaged and sold to purchasers in a mannerwhich requires the devices to contain ink in order to scan documents. The All-in-One Printers donot function as scanners if the devices have low or empty ink cartridges.Ink is not a necessary component to fax a document.However, the All-in-One Printers are packaged and sold to purchasers in a mannerwhich requires the devices to contain ink in order to fax documents. The All-in-One Printers donot function as fax machines if the devices have low or empty...
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Par for the course unfortunately. I gave up on inkjets years ago, although lasers aren’t really any better when it comes to playing dirty pool with DRMed supplies and short-shifting consumers… but at least toner doesn’t dry out with a short shelf life.
 
LOL, I don't think informing people that we are going to slam the door in your face would make it any better. I actually have a canon all in one printer but I did not notice this, albeit I very rarely use the scan function, and hadn't sent or received a fax since the 2000s.
 
Brian_B said:
Par for the course unfortunately. I gave up on inkjets years ago, although lasers aren’t really any better when it comes to playing dirty pool with DRMed supplies and short-shifting consumers… but at least toner doesn’t dry out with a short shelf life.
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Actually Canon printers are pretty good in this regard. My older Canon printer sat in a closet for at least 5 years, I took it out and it printed perfectly, the ink didn't dry out and the print head wasn't permanently clogged.
 
Yea just imagine the judge with thousands in lost ink sitting behind the bench as the suite came is read. The evil grin and softly spoken... finally my day has come.
 
As someone who used to repair printers for a living, I've always hated injkets. It was a stupid technology from day one.
 
Printer ink by volume is the most valuable mass produced liquid. Walmart had a person walk out with a hand basket of printer ink and they had to mark down a 10k loss.
 
I can personally verify that this issue relates to their MFP toner/laserjet printers as well. I bought one for an office years ago because Canon had some dealings with HP and used the design where the drum is incorporated into the toner. One day the office called me and said they couldn't send faxes anymore. Total facepalm moment. I was in shock when this story came up and the company was still using similar programming on their machines after all this time.
 
MadMummy76 said:
Right to repair should also include the right to use any ink.
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While I agree, in both cases you should be sure that you get what you pay for. I have seen some repair vids on youtube where they have to try and fix what other "proffesionals" botched up and that is not always pretty and can cost a whole lot more then it should have.

Same with those inks if they all stick to the same standards, fine, but if you get some fake cheap chinese knock of that destroys your printer after printing 5 pages and you are stuck with a dead printer who you gonna call?
 
Denpepe said:
While I agree, in both cases you should be sure that you get what you pay for. I have seen some repair vids on youtube where they have to try and fix what other "proffesionals" botched up and that is not always pretty and can cost a whole lot more then it should have.

Same with those inks if they all stick to the same standards, fine, but if you get some fake cheap chinese knock of that destroys your printer after printing 5 pages and you are stuck with a dead printer who you gonna call?
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Yet thst happens when people try to buy cheap oem branded ink today. No difference.
 
Denpepe said:
but if you get some fake cheap chinese knock of that destroys your printer after printing 5 pages and you are stuck with a dead printer who you gonna call?
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First,

I don't often buy knockoffs, but when I do, I prefer my knockoffs to be chinese, and cheap.
/s

Second,

ghostbusters-logo-on-black.jpg
 
The printer/ink market has a lot of bad players in it - it gets worse for industrial printers where there can be significant savings on ink and makeup fluid (used to dilute the ink) where you have the printer makers withholding key replacement parts (i.e. nozzles) and not selling them unless you're also buying their ink. They also have service techs that will always diagnose competitive ink as the problem in the printer and make them switch back to OEM, even if the ink/makeup is chemically identical (a few printer makers forgot to patent their fluids a few decades back).
 
Denpepe said:
While I agree, in both cases you should be sure that you get what you pay for. I have seen some repair vids on youtube where they have to try and fix what other "proffesionals" botched up and that is not always pretty and can cost a whole lot more then it should have.

Same with those inks if they all stick to the same standards, fine, but if you get some fake cheap chinese knock of that destroys your printer after printing 5 pages and you are stuck with a dead printer who you gonna call?
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Did you actually see a printer get destroyed by ink? Especially since most consumer inkjet printers have their nozzles as part of the ink tank. So the only thing that can get destroyed is already getting replaced when you buy new OEM ink. Using cheap ink can result in low quality prints, but cause damage to the printer? LOL that's exactly the kind of fearmongering I'd expect manufacturers to peddle.

And as always burden of proof is on the seller/manufacturer that it was actually the ink or user error that caused the malfunction. If they can prove that by all means the warranty can be void. But it's my printer, I paid for it, if I want I can empty fountain pens into it. They should not be allowed to disable functionality if you use 3rd party ink, or outright prevent you from using anything but their consumables.
 
My ancient HP All in one was like this. Run out of any color of ink, and the thing became useless.

My current el cheapo inkjet is a Canon, maybe 10 years old and was like $35 from Wally World. At least it will still let me scan with a dead ink cart inside. I print 99% of my stuff on my laser, but I do use the scanner fairly often.
 
Brian_B said:
I have. While nozzles get replaced with ink cartridges on some models, it's certainly not universal.
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Still you own the printer it should be up to you what to do with it. And even if you can break the printer with ink, disabling the scanning function because no ink? How is that even remotely related?

BTW on models where the tank is separate from the print head, It might clog the print head, but that doesn't break the printer itself. As the print head is also a replaceable item that canon sells separately for such printers.
 
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