HP Inc settles printer toner lockout lawsuit with a promise to make firmware updates optional
- Reference: 1742425150
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/03/19/hp_printer_lawsuit_settled/
- Source link:
One of the named plaintiffs in the case is called Mobile Emergency Housing Corp (MEHC) and works with emergency management organizations and government agencies to provide shelters for disaster victims and first responders across the US and Caribbean.
According to [1]court documents [PDF], MEHC bought an HP Color LaserJet Pro M254 in August 2019. In October 2020, the org used toner cartridges from third-party supplier Greensky rather than pay for HP’s premium-priced toner.
[2]
A month later, HP sent or activated a firmware update - part of its so-called " [3]Dynamic Security " measures - rendering MEHC’s printers incompatible with third-party toner cartridges like those from Greensky.
[4]
[5]
When MEHC's CEO Joseph James tried to print out a document, he got the following error message.
[6]
The same thing happened to another plaintiff, Performance Automotive, which purchased an HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw in 2018 and also installed a firmware update that prevented the machine from working when third-party toner cartridges were present.
[7]HP customers claim firmware update rendered third-party ink verboten
[8]We never agreed to only buy HP ink, say printer owners
[9]HP TV ads claim its printers are 'made to be less hated'
[10]Oh Brother. Printer giant denies dirty toner tricks as users cry foul
HP is not shy about why it does this: In 2024 CEO Enrique Lores [11]told the Davos World Economic Forum "We lose money on the hardware, we make money on the supplies.”
The company therefore works “to reduce unprofitable customers because every time a customer buys a printer it's an investment for us. We're investing in that customer."
Incidentally, HP's printing division [12]reported $4.5 billion in net revenue in fiscal year 2024.
[13]
Lores has also argued that using third-party suppliers is a security risk, claiming malware could theoretically be slipped into cartridge controller chips. The Register is unaware of this happening outside a lab. He's also pitched HP's own gear as the greener choice, pointing to its cartridge recycling program.
MEHC, Performance Automotive, (and [14]many readers) disagree and would like to choose their own toner.
Thus, a lawsuit was launched, but rather than fight its case in court, HP has, [15]once again , chosen to settle the case privately with no admission of guilt.
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"HP denies that it did anything wrong," its settlement notice [17]reads . "HP agrees under the Settlement to continue making certain disclosures about its use of Dynamic Security, and to continue to provide printer users with the option to either install or decline to install firmware updates that include Dynamic Security."
But it's clear HP is facing an increasing task in trying to convince people that it's only right and fair that people pay for its toner rather than going to third parties to buy a product for a fraction of the cost. Increasingly, customers aren't buying it - literally or figuratively.
HP had no comment at the time of publication. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/03/19/hp1.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z9ug8jfmiQq7f-id6ODcFAAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/13/hp_euconsumers_settlement_dynamic_security_printers_third_party_supplies/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z9ug8jfmiQq7f-id6ODcFAAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z9ug8jfmiQq7f-id6ODcFAAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/03/19/hp.jpg
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/09/hp_class_action_ink/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/11/hp_inc_ink_filing/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/hp_made_to_be_less_hated/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/06/brother_firmware_update_toner/
[11] https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/01/18/hp-ceo-enrique-lores-on-pc-market-trends-significant-tailwinds-will-continue-to-drive-demand.html
[12] https://www.hp.com/content/dam/sites/garage-press/press/press-releases/2024/q4-fy24-earnings/Press%20Release%202024%20Q4_Final.pdf
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z9ug8jfmiQq7f-id6ODcFAAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/11/hp_inc_ink_filing/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/13/hp_euconsumers_settlement_dynamic_security_printers_third_party_supplies/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z9ug8jfmiQq7f-id6ODcFAAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_11775540-11775594-16
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Where I work the solution was a policy that prevents nearly anyone from buying any type of office printer. Now there are a couple networked copiers in the mail room for everyone to use. Thanks HP for the additional exercise.
HP's Loss-leader
If HP uses the hardware price as a loss-leader, how come they are surprised when they make a loss on the hardware? No excuse to rip off people with ink at the equivalent of £1000's per litre. I put a "tarriff" on this type scam company, i.e. don't buy their crap.
Re: HP's Loss-leader
Well durr....
When ink costs more than cocaine, they know they can snort as much as they want and still be quids in.
HP
The original company to shit in its own kitchen!
HP
Used to stand for 'Hinge Problems' in some circles.
It just isn't right, you'd think that there would be some mechanism where folks can buy a 'refillable' catridge that is designed to work with any ink and has a robust and effective anti-clog mechanism.
An idea I came up with is to build an entirely homemade printer with my own chip using a completely novel piezoelectric 'pump' that runs the ink tank in reverse thus avoiding rhe need for expen$ive ink in the first place. Essentially any ink particles that get jammed in the nozzles are pulled back into the solvent tank which then gets emptied. Making the actual process of clearing a clogged head a very simple and routine process.
For toner it is a ilittle more complicated but it is still doable.
One major problem with tomer based printers is that the drum becomes a consumable. That photoconductive coating has a finite life and changing from the older selenium to an organic photconductor (OPC) may be cheaper and better for the environment but it substantially affects durability because under constant irradiation the plastic loses its cohesion and eventually stops being a photoconductor.
Making one of these from scratch is not simple though there are methods,
Did also look into a reuseable paper with 'Janus Particles' (an older version of E-ink) and the problem then becomes how to address them without a silicon or other backplane, printers that use multi-particle methods like the ZInk do clever tricks with timing and a conventional very high resolution thermal head.
One potential workaround here would be to use a heat based solution ie have the active material require heat AND electricity to change shape. Essentially here the particles are suspended in a wax like material with a low melting point of around 90 Celsius so that under heat and electric charge the particles become mobile.
This would also permit colour printing as particles could be biased in such a way to use both electric and magnetic switching by using diamagnetic inks containing (for example) bismuth and iron so a single 'Ouroborus Particle' can show an entire colour spectrum.
"Lores has also argued that using third-party suppliers is a security risk, claiming malware could theoretically be slipped into cartridge controller chips. "
So how about this Lores: you update the firmware one last time to completely IGNORE the presence or absence of a cartridge chip. That way you aren't screwing your customers and, at a strike, remove the security risk.
Worst case is that there IS a serial numbered chip but that's it. If the printer has warned of an empty cart, you are given the opportunity to say it's been refilled and you're then warned to be careful.
Update optional?
That's fine. I've instigated a policy of buying anything from HP entirely optional. Looks like it's bearing fruit: no printing issues here at all. :-)