HP Fined $14 Million For 'Cartelization' of Ink Cartridges, Toner, PCs (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0184484834
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/07/16/2210245/hp-fined-14-million-for-cartelization-of-ink-cartridges-toner-pcs
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/hp-fined-1-4-billion-rupees-for-cartelization-of-ink-cartridges-toner-pcs/
> In an [2]order , the CCI said that HP India worked with five resellers to coordinate their bid prices for government contracts to increase the chances of an HP partner winning the contracts. The company was fined 1.3 billion rupees (about $13.1 million). [...] HP was also fined 119.8 million rupees (about $1.2 million) for "indulging in cartelization in sale and supply of supplies products comprising of toner, cartridges, and other consumable used with print hardware products," CCI said in its announcement. The agency also fined 21 HP resellers 35.2 million rupees (about $365,335).
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> In a [3]separate order , the CCI said that WhatsApp records showed that HP and 16 of its Tier-2 reseller partners operated "in a collusive arrangement" and that the messages show the companies engaging in "bid rigging, including cover bidding, price fixation, and customer allocation during 2017-2020." HP India played a central role, the regulator said.
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> Per the order, HP India said that high printing supply prices led some resellers to threaten to "shift to low-cost counterfeit products to compete on price." "HP India was commercially forced into a position where it had to support the collusive arrangement adopted by the Tier-2 resellers," the order reads. For its part, the order said that HP India "humbly objects to HP India's role being characterized as a 'kingpin' of the entire collusive arrangement." [...] The CCI also ordered HP India and its channel partners to "cease and desist from anti-competitive conduct" and to hold competition compliance training programs within 60 days.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/hp-fined-1-4-billion-rupees-for-cartelization-of-ink-cartridges-toner-pcs/
[2] https://www.cci.gov.in/antitrust/orders/details/1267/0
[3] https://www.cci.gov.in/antitrust/orders/details/1266/0
HP has always been the biggest offender (Score:5, Informative)
Lexmark invented the weaponization of ink and Toner, but it was HP that took it to a fine art. Where you can buy a cartridge but not actually own the ink in it or the right to use it. I moved on to Brother some years ago and never looked back. I [1]wrote an article about it [productrevue.ca] seven years ago, and have never regretted dropping them. And the Brother MFC-J6945DW I moved to then, I still use it. Large format, fantastic quality, giant refillable cartridges. My price per page over and above the cost of paper is a rounding error.
[1] https://productrevue.ca/index.php/2019/04/23/why-not-hp-printers/
Re:HP has always been the biggest offender (Score:4, Insightful)
In the early days I used HP because it was drama free for use it Linux. They broke that circa 2013 with printers that only worked with Windows. Really since then they have only got worse and worse to the point they can now only be described as evil. I second the OP in recommending Brother printers, I have never regretted buying one, currently using the DCP-L3560CDW.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I also used to use HP printers because they were drama-free on Linux. I switched to a Brother printer, which has a neat "HP Emulation Mode" setting. I didn't even have to change drivers.
Re:HP has always been the biggest offender (Score:5, Interesting)
Drivers!? Who needs drivers? Just netcat the PDF output directly to the printer! Printers natively have their own printing drivers and capabilities built in, and will translate documents internally.
[1]https://retrohacker.substack.c... [substack.com]
[1] https://retrohacker.substack.com/p/bye-cups-printing-with-netcat
Re: (Score:2)
Time, printing to a PDF before using netcat would just add an extra step. Also how do use netcat when you just want to print one page out of a 2000 page datasheet? Still an interesting idea I hadn't thought of.
Friends don't let friends use HP. (Score:5, Insightful)
When other people use HP, it makes me angry. It's like giving money to a powerful mafia; even if I am not the one dealing with the mafia the power others give to them makes them a threat to me.
The more HP succeeds at consumer-hostility, the fewer options I have that are not consumer-hostile. Even Brother will start to look with envy upon the kind of money that HP makes through customer abuse. Someday, new leadership will inherit Brother and see no competitive forces keeping its quality of service high, and it will become HP's mini-me.
Spread the word. Every time you use an HP device, the terrorists win.
Re: Friends don't let friends use HP. (Score:1)
Yup, rather use Lexmark
Re: (Score:2)
I would never buy HP junk. My current printer is a Canon inkjet (I absolutely need color printing and color lasers are still too expensive) and the printer I buy to replace this one is going to be another Canon.
Re: (Score:2)
The terrorists won here almost two decades ago. This is how long I had this one HP printer I own. Two of the cartridges are still the ones included with the printer back then.
Cost of doing business. (Score:5, Interesting)
This fine doesn't even make a dent in the amount of money they made from doing this. If the fine doesn't exceed 100% of profits then it's not a fine, it's a cost of doing business.
Re:Cost of doing business. (Score:4, Insightful)
> This fine doesn't even make a dent in the amount of money they made from doing this. If the fine doesn't exceed 100% of profits then it's not a fine, it's a cost of doing business.
Perhaps we will start to see the punishments fit the crime when the term premeditated fraud in the first degree is used by a judge to describe the felonous MBA fuckery currently building the FY27 balance sheets of Too Big To Fail.
Re: (Score:3)
Eh... theres still a sting in the tail. I suspect these sorts of fines are more about "We want you to fix this" rather than "We want you to bleed for doing this". The thing is, $14 mil aint a drop of piss in the oceans of HPs money supply, but what IS important is that its a court order, and disobeying the court order can turn this from "insignificant financial mosquito bite" to "Oh shit, theres an interpol arrest warrant out for the CEO on criminal contempt charges".
Rule number #1 and #2 of any interaction
Re: (Score:2)
HP's revenue in 2025 was 56 billion dollars. So the fine is 0.025% of their revenue. In comparison, the cost of replacing the TP in the HP corporate restrooms is 0.05% of their revenue (I made that last one up).
This fine won't even get noticed by HP.
HP is like Wells Fargo (Score:4, Insightful)
At this point in history I can't understand why anyone is still using HP printers. Brother is right there.
Re: (Score:2)
My last HP was the 5L. nearly 30 years ago. Never had another HP. Brother ever since, even now.
Every time I try cheap ink it wrecks my printer (Score:1)
I've tried the cheap ink cartridges in Epson printers in the past. Every time it clogged my print heads and I could not get them clean. Every "clean" cycle attempt just eats ink like crazy too. In the end I've had to buy a new printer.
Re: (Score:2)
That was my experience with epson mid 90's too.
And back then, i was a frequent printer.
If you don't print often, go laser. Can sit for years without use, wake it up, and it all works.
Re: (Score:2)
"Can sit for years without use, wake it up, and it all works." - Unless of course it wakes up, calls home, downloads and updates its firmware, and now tells you since it was sitting so long you need to purchase new toner cartridges before you can print again. Your current ones have "expired". Haven't seen this yet? You will. Most printer manufacturers are evil as far as I'm concerned. Only a matter of time.
Wow (Score:3)
14 Million dollars? That is a rounding error for HP...
Re: Wow (Score:5, Informative)
Barely a cost of business. No wonder businesses are getting more and more evil. It pays dividend.
Re: (Score:2)
> Then again, I'm surprised this happened at all under this administration!
See, that's the thing... By having this be handled now they take care of it for a measly $14 mil. Whereas if the current administration had ignored it, then a later one could come after them for a lot more. So it's really doing them a favor "punishing" them at this time.
$14 million? (Score:3)
That's not even a slap on the wrist. They may as well have sentenced HP to 1 hour of community service.
14 Million? (Score:3)
$14M is a joke. That's less than their annual bribe budget for india alone.
Only $14,000,000 ?? (Score:2)
That's chump change to HP. They spent more on their weekend getaways to Jeff's Fantasy Island.
The partners should have been fined harder (Score:2)
Is one thing when the partners say:
We will move to non-HP Ink, as in SmartInk or Cartridge world, that you as a consumer know right away that they are not HP, and know what you are geting into...
And a very different thing is to threaten to sell COUNTERFEIT cartridges, as in cartridges that say HP in the Box, HP in the plastic moldings, mimic the HP box, logos and holograms, and yet you as a consumer are none-the-wiser that these were not made by HP
The partners should have been fined harder
Maybe their management doesn't know about (Score:2)
Maybe their management doesn't know about their practices. Mafia things are a secretive business, if you talk too much you get a "sasso in bocca" (a stone in the mouth) and you'd be silent forever.
rich cunt problems (Score:3)
If the punishment is a fine its legal for a price.
HP printers are something from the past (Score:1)
Used to have HP printers because they were running fine with Linux. And itwas good printer at the time. And then they started updating their firmware like every other week to prevent people choosing their ink (which was crazy expensive), which is illegal where I live. Up to the point, they transformed the printer into a brick....Will never buy one again.Now using Epson Ecotank. haven't seen a HP printer for years....
Carly Fiorina (Score:2)
Remember when Carly Fiorina got to lead HP? It's been downhill ever since. What once was a reliable provider of high-grade equipment became a company to avoid.
EU (Score:3)
I wish the European Union would take similar action. Mario Draghi claimed he wanted to solve the issue 20 years ago. Time to revisit it.
[1]https://competition-policy.ec.... [europa.eu]
[1] https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/antitrust-and-cartels/contact_en
HP INK only $39.99/GAL (Score:5, Funny)
HP INK only $39.99/GAL
Re:HP INK only $39.99/GAL (Score:4, Informative)
I regret to inform you that you have woefully underestimated it. The actual retail rate offered to consumers is closer to $2200 US per gallon. Sources: [1]internet-ink.com [internet-ink.com], [2]cbc.ca [www.cbc.ca]. This $14 million fine is only worth like, seven thousand gallons, or less than 200 oil barrels of ink.
[1] https://www.internet-ink.com/blog/printers-2014-09-29-printer-ink-is-now-more-expensive-than-human-blood
[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/liquids/test.html