HP Forces Customers to Use Its Ink Cartridges, Alleges Antitrust Class Action

Eleven consumers sued HP Friday over the company’s requirement that customers of certain of its printers use only HP-branded replacement ink cartridges, said an 80-count antitrust and consumer fraud class action (docket 1:24-cv-00164) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. HP required consumers who had bought its printers to use its cartridges, rather than buy ones from competitors, through firmware updates it distributed electronically to all registered owners of certain printers in late 2022 and early 2023, said the complaint. The firmware update “effectively disabled the printer if the user installed a replacement ink cartridge that was not HP-branded,” it said. During the same period, HP raised prices on its print cartridges, the complaint said, and “in effect,” created a “monopoly in the aftermarket for replacement cartridges, permitting it to raise prices without fear of being undercut by competitors.” A full HP-branded replacement ink cartridge set can cost $100 for many models, while competitors’ cartridges “may cost half as much,” it said. Among plaintiffs’ 80 claims are unjust enrichment and violations of numerous state consumer protection laws, the Sherman Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the complaint said. They seek an injunction requiring HP to disable the firmware updates that precluded the use of non-HP-branded replacement ink cartridges; compensatory, statutory and punitive damages; prejudgment interest; and attorneys’ fees and legal costs, it said.