Brother denies reports that its laser printers have begun removing compatible inks through firmware updates
It is generally said that printer manufacturers have a business model of selling printers with the price including 'ink' and 'cartridges', and this is often perceived by consumers as 'genuine ink and cartridges are more expensive than third-party inks and cartridges'. Recently, it has been reported that printer manufacturer Brother has begun to eliminate compatible third-party cartridges.
Brother denies using firmware updates to brick printers with third-party ink - Ars Technica
On March 3, YouTuber and right-to-repair activist Louis Rothman published a video alleging that a Brother firmware update was causing printers to stop working when using compatible cartridges.
Brother turns heel & becomes anti-consumer printer company 😢 😢 😢 - YouTube
The source of this claim is a 2022 Reddit post. The poster reported that he had been using compatible third-party cartridges for his MFC-3750 laser printer, but the firmware update W1.56 disabled a function called 'Auto Color Registration.' He complained that not working this function meant that the printer was practically unusable. This post has received comments such as 'genuine ink is too expensive,' and users are dissatisfied. The price difference in ink is clear. For example, the price of a genuine cartridge for the HL-L3240CDW printer is about 7,300 yen, while a compatible cartridge is only about 4,000 yen. However, genuine products are the ones recommended by the manufacturer, and using products from other companies may cause unexpected problems like this one, so caution is required when using them.
Brother MFC firmware update - non-genuine toner now disables critical features.
by u/20Factorial in printers
Rothman later isolated the problem, pointing out that 'the firmware update doesn't completely stop the printer from functioning, but it does disable features that were previously available with compatible cartridges, such as automatic color registration. ' He also reported that Brother printers are exploitative because they update automatically when connected to the Internet and are difficult to downgrade.
When tech media Ars Technica reached out to Brother about the issue, the company denied the allegations that it was intentionally restricting the functionality of its printers. Brother responded by saying, 'We are aware that there have been recent false allegations that Brother firmware updates may be restricting the use of third-party ink cartridges. Please be assured that Brother firmware updates do not restrict the use of third-party cartridges.'
However, some users who use compatible cartridges are complaining that third-party cartridges can no longer be used. The poster above is not the only one who claims that the printer's functionality is reduced when trying to use third-party cartridges. Others report that 'when I installed a compatible cartridge, an error message appeared, so I transplanted the chip from the genuine cartridge and everything was fine,' and that 'the workaround of transplanting the chip is no longer available.'
Brother told Ars Technica, 'Brother printers do not distinguish between genuine and non-genuine cartridges and do not intentionally degrade print quality. However, we cannot verify the print quality that will result from using compatible products. For optimal performance and reliability, we recommend using genuine Brother ink and cartridges.'
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in Hardware, Posted by log1p_kr