HP Escapes Customer Payouts in Printer-Bricking Lawsuit Settlement (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0176779955
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/03/20/1853218/hp-escapes-customer-payouts-in-printer-bricking-lawsuit-settlement
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/hp-avoids-monetary-damages-over-bricked-printers-in-class-action-settlement/
The class-action lawsuit, filed in December 2020, alleged HP "wrongfully compels users" to buy only HP ink by issuing updates that block competitors' cartridges. Under the settlement, HP admits no wrongdoing and won't pay monetary damages to affected customers, though it will pay $5,000 each to the three plaintiffs and $725,000 in attorneys' fees.
HP has agreed to allow users of specific printer models impacted by the November 2020 update to decline firmware updates containing "Dynamic Security" features -- HP's term for technology that blocks cartridges using non-HP chips. The settlement applies only to 21 specific printer models, leaving numerous other HP printers subject to Dynamic Security restrictions. HP has previously paid millions in similar cases in Europe, Australia, and California related to printer bricking.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/hp-avoids-monetary-damages-over-bricked-printers-in-class-action-settlement/
Excluding yourself? (Score:2)
What possible rational reason could any reasonable person have to not exclude themselves from this settlement?
Re: (Score:3)
The primary reason would be to reserve the right to sue yourself, as opposed to being a member of the class. (At least I think that's right, IANAL.)
Class action suits are total bullshit, the only people who benefit are the plaintiff attorneys. The one I was most recently involved with paid 1/3 of the settlement to the plaintiff law firm, about $1.3m. And that's "reasonable and customary". So now you know why there are so many class action lawsuits, particularly against big tech. If you're the law firm
Re: (Score:2)
> The primary reason would be to reserve the right to sue yourself, as opposed to being a member of the class. (At least I think that's right, IANAL.)
Also my understanding, but also IANAL.
> Class action suits are total bullshit, the only people who benefit are the plaintiff attorneys.
Not true, the defendant's attorneys get paid too. :-)
More seriously, I think the main purpose to class-action suits is to punish the defendant and the number of people in the class give that some weight, legally and financially. Unfortunately, that means the payout to those in the "class" are usually trivial -- X dollars / Y people = next to nothing.
Crime pays (Score:4, Insightful)
They earned millions by anti-competitive practices over 5 years and all they need to pay now is 740k. They'll just write it off their tax bill and laugh.
How about Epson? (Score:2)
The same thing happened to me awhile back when I updated the firmware on my Epson MFP. Beforehand, 3rd party carts worked fine and were a lot cheaper. Afterwards, could only use Epson cartridges that were a LOT more expensive and didn't last very long. Took that POS to the storage building.
Its really ok (Score:3)
Never buy another HP product. Done
Broken system (Score:4, Insightful)
$5,000 each to the three plaintiffs and $725,000 in attorneys' fees.
This is precisely why the guillotine was invented.
some of the attorneys' fees covers HP ink used so (Score:4, Funny)
some of the attorneys' fees covers HP ink used so they get some rebate
Re: (Score:2)
> $5,000 each to the three plaintiffs and $725,000 in attorneys' fees.
To be (marginally) fair, the attorneys did most of the work, but I do think that people negatively affected should be compensated somehow *and* usefully for their injury/inconvenience -- meaning more than, for example. just a discount coupon for HP ink.
> This is precisely why the guillotine was invented.
Which, obviously, won't work with third-part blades ... :-)