An interesting item published in PCPRO’s newsletter.

“A woman in the US is suing HP, alleging that its ink jet cartridges are designed to expire by a certain date, whether or not they have been installed in a printer.

According to a report from Reuters, the suit, filed in the Santa Clara Superior Court in California says 'The smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer'.

The cartridges have a sensor inside them which are designed to detect when the ink reservoir is low and alert the consumer to buy a replacement. However, many customers have long seen ink jet cartridges as being a bit of a rip off. Recently PC Pro discovered that packs of ink jet cartridges from various suppliers almost cost as much as the printer and often run out quickly.

Steve Malone

HP, which is the world's biggest supplier of printers for personal computers, was not available for comment.

Ends….

Here at photo-i, we wouldn’t take this for an answer, so we contacted HP and asked for a comment. This is their reply.

Media statement on HP inkjet cartridge lawsuit in the US

Several recent media reports have covered a class-action lawsuit recently filed against HP on behalf of a resident of the state of Georgia (D. Tyler) in the US. HP believes that the recent lawsuit regarding inkjet printers is without merit.

Whilst the company cannot offer any further comment on the lawsuit at this time, it would like to share some facts regarding the HP technology concerned.

HP designs its printing systems so that customers have a choice when purchasing a product to meet their printing needs. We offer a number of systems, both with and without ‘smart technology,’ to maximise value and performance for our customers.

Smart technology used in our cartridges enhances the customer printing experience and protects the system from damage. On a small number of cartridges, this includes the use of an “expiration date”. These are used with HP’s business inkjet systems that have separate printheads and ink supplies.

The expiration date prevents the degradation of printer components and print quality due to changes over time in ink properties, cartridge properties and interactions between ink and the cartridge.

For some printing systems with ink expiration dates, the maximum cartridge lifetime is more than 4 years (54 months), and the maximum in-printer life is 2.5 years. In other systems with ink expiration dates, the maximum lifetime is 3 years and in-printer life is 18 months. The time allowed exceeds the normal usage period for the vast majority of our customers.

The following HP ink cartridges utilise expiration dates

Ends....

photo-i comment.

HP's intentions are good, but although they and Epson (UltraChrome inks) do put a "Best before or Install by Date" on their packaging it is not made clear that the cartridge may cease to function after that date. Canon do not have any dates on their inks, but then again they don't chip them either.

In most cases you are likely to use the inks up well before the expiry date - just check the box at the time of purchase for a longer lasting package.

TIP: If your computer store is well managed then the fresh stock will always be placed at the back of a shelf - this applies to groceries too.

Vincent - 27 Feb 2005

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $81.8 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

© 2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein

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14 June, 2005