HP printer class action lawsuit ends in disappointment

People are pretty pissed off at HP printers. Wait, hang on a sec, let me revise that statement: People are pretty pissed off at all printers, perpetually, but HP printers in particular have been extremely irksome for the last few years. A class-action lawsuit was filed over HP’s attempts to lock users into its expensive first-party ink, but the results are probably far short of what you want to hear.

Last week, a California federal judge finally resolved a lawsuit that stretched over more than four years, ending in HP neither admitting fault nor compensating the vast majority of customers affected by software updates that were called “malware” by the litigants. Just three parties that brought the suit will get $5,000 USD each, and customers will have the option to roll back the offending updates on 21 models of LaserJet printer. The full list of more recent models was posted by Ars Technica.

Models made before the year 2016 are also covered… but that will be a relatively small slice of printers still in service almost a decade later. HP has begun at least nominally warning customers that its new printers include “Dynamic Security” that blocks ink cartridges that don’t use HP’s proprietary verification system. HP has apparently dropped its more overt attempts to “make printing a subscription,” but it’s still heavily invested into locking customers into its expensive ink system.

Speaking as both a consumer advocate and a person who begrudgingly needs to print things on occasion, I recommend getting the cheapest Brother black-and-white laser printer you can and saving the nice color prints for a specialized service. Brother’s printers are generally reliable, last forever on a toner cartridge, and are happy to accept third-party refills when they finally run out.