On Sunday, August 17, 2003, at 10:08 AM, J Sand wrote:
I have a Lexmark Z12 that I am able to refill the cartridge. Does the model in question do something different?
Read the article. What Lexmark is doing is attempting to stop companies from legally selling cloned and/or refilled laser printer cartridges. (They've also discussed putting this technology into their inkjet cartridges)
Lexmark's argument is that the circuitry that they place on their cartridges is protected from reverse engineering under the provisions of the DMCA that prohibit 'circumventing copy protection devices'.
If they win this, there's also nothing to prevent them from selling cartridges that will no longer print after they're first emptied. They can sell them with as little toner as they can get away with, after luring the customer in with cheap printer prices.
The only way to fight this is hit them in the pocketbook...don't buy their products, don't recommend their products.
The real fear, as noted in that article is that this could conceivably apply to *any* device made by manufacturers in *any* industry. Ford, for example could prevent parts manufacturers from making compatible parts for Ford vehicles, thus making consumers have to buy Ford repair parts.
Given the monopoly this creates, there's no incentive to make repair and replacement parts (or toner or ink cartridges) affordable.
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