Apparently the profits from selling a substance worth more than gold or even the blood in your veins is not enough to enable Epson to survive a bit of competition and so they have demanded eBay remove a long list of compatible cartridges which are sold on that site. Their claim is based on the proprietary way in which "chip contacts on the cartridges are aligned"; presumably something resembling a single raised finger. HP tried a similar approach a year ago, adding DRM to their printers and ink cartridges which prevented refilled or third party cartridges from working. They also included an expiry date in the DRM, so even a full authentic cartridge would have to be replaced after a set date. This did not go well for them and they reversed their policy after a public outcry. You can read more about HP, Epson and the price of your blood over at The Inquirer.
For now it continues to be more economical to toss your Epson printer out when an ink cartridge runs dry than to replace it with a full one.
"EPSON HAS become the latest printer company to attempt a ban on third-party printer cartridges, asking eBay to issue takedown notices for sellers under the site's VeRO programme."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Seagate's at it HAMR and tongs for growth as revenues shrivel again @ The Register
- Dell Lost Control of Key Customer Support Domain for a Month in 2017 @ Slashdot
- Bad Rabbit: Ransomware linked to NotPetya hits Russia and Ukraine @ The Inquirer
- Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect @ [H]ard|OCP
- Intel helped Google build the Pixel 2’s custom camera SoC @ Ars Technica
- Why We Must Fight For the Right To Repair Our Electronics @ Slashdot
- IoT pushes Arm over the Edge: Mbed Cloud offers to grab gadget gateways @ The Register
- Interference Scanner with Clear Instructions @ Hack a Day
At least they are quiet about
At least they are quiet about it…
I still have an Epson lawsuit
I still have an Epson lawsuit claim form from 15+ years ago where Epson was found guily in California of reporting in their printer software that the Epson ink cartridge/s was out when tests showed that there was still 33% ink remaing in the ink cartridge/s.
I never sent the claim in for free Ink from Epson as I got rid of that money eating beast as there where not any third part Ink options at the time. HP has its starter ink cartridges(much less Ink) in its new printers and Cannon’s printers/Inks are also costly.
What makes me mad about my Cannon printers is that even though I only make black and white copies it still uses up the color ink and that’s a printer with 2 different black inks and a gray ink that’s supposed to be for color printing only. I have a lower cost Cannon Printer that I use for Color Prints but it has no built-in scanner functionality like the Costly Cannon Pixma printer and that multi-function Pixma printer can not even be used for scanning if the Ink runs out in one of its six different ink cartridges.
The Cannon Pixma printer cleans the heads every time I turn it on to use(Make copies in Black and white) on the damn printer and that wastes Ink right into the absorbent pad! And the multi-function printers need to be made to be useable for scanning even with the Ink out if the user just wants to use the device for scanning onto an attactched computer but that’s how they get you over the barrel if you do not continue to pay through the nose for Ink.
What a total scam the printer/Ink industry(mafia) is!
Maybe it’s not just Intel…
Maybe it’s not just Intel… you are mad at everyone who manufactures products that make your life easier.
Blow it out you A$$
Blow it out you A$$ Monolopoly Apologist! The American Crony Capitalism is anti-free market at its core and It’s time to Bust The Trusts. That will prevent the markets from crashing when all of this New Gilded Age Corruption comes to its natural end and is over with. For Sure we will need another FDR again to save the day.
You Total Tool and Slackjawed fool! You Totally Feckless and utter Fool!
bravo
bravo
Are ink printers still a
Are ink printers still a thing? Colour lasers are cheap enough nowadays that they really should have ovetaken the market.
People still print stuff? WTF
People still print stuff? WTF /s
With mobile phones now,Instead of printing stuff most folks just send a web link or send the photo straight from phone.
Easier just to take your phone or micro sd card down to a print store and do it there if you want a hard copy.
I have an expensive Epson 8 ink printer, Hasn’t been touched in 5 years, Probably would be useless now without some magic cleaning to flush it out.
Easier just to use cheap colour laser and for real photo’s, Take it down to a store and get it done properly.