Choose denies HP’s request to dismiss printer lockdown suiit • The Register
HP all-in-one printer homeowners, upset that their units would not scan or fax when low on ink, had been handed a partial win in a northern California court docket this week after a choose denied HP’s movement to dismiss their swimsuit.
The plaintiffs argued of their amended class motion complaint [PDF] that HP withheld important data by together with software program in its all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machines that disabled non-printing features when out of ink and never telling consumers that was the case.
“It’s well-documented that ink isn’t required as a way to scan or to fax a doc, and it’s actually potential to fabricate an All-in-One printer that scans or faxes when the system is out of ink,” the plaintiffs argued of their grievance. The amended grievance was filed in February this 12 months after US federal Choose Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the swimsuit on the grounds that it hadn’t correctly said a declare.
Armed with their amended grievance, attorneys for San Francsican Gary Freund and Minneapolis resident Wayne McMath have succeeded at not solely making related claims, but in addition surviving an try by HP to have all the case dismissed for a second time.
Within the amended grievance, Freund and McMath’s attorneys argue that HP’s transfer to disable units that had been low on ink was intentional, citing HP’s personal feedback from a assist discussion board submit during which an HP assist agent advised a consumer complaining of comparable points that their “HP printer is designed in such a approach that with the empty cartridge or with out the cartridge [the] printer won’t perform.”
“At this stage, the message board submit quantities to a factual allegation that bolster plaintiffs’ allegations that HP designed its printers to disable sure features when their ink is depleted,” Choose Freeman stated in her order [PDF] handed down yesterday.
Moreover, Choose Freeman discovered the plaintiffs had “adequately” described “the alleged defect and HP’s information of that defect,” they’d adequately pleaded that HP had an obligation to reveal the restrictions, and that the defect occurred throughout the guarantee interval for the reason that units had been shipped with ink cartridge limitations for non-printing options.
Choose Freeman allowed different claims to face as properly, solely dismissing the plaintiffs’ request for equitable restitution underneath the Minnesota Misleading Commerce Practices Act. In any other case, Freeman stated, “these allegations are enough” to permit the case to proceed.
This is not the primary time HP has been taken to court docket over claims it improperly locked printers down. In 2022 the IT big settled a European lawsuit for $1.35 million alleging it used safety chips and DRM-like software program to forestall any third-party cartridges from functioning in HP printers. The US company has handled related instances in Australia and America, which had been settled.
HP hasn’t responded to our questions concerning the newest lawsuit.
Canon, one other printer producer that sells all-in-one units, was sued in 2021 for the very same causes as Freund and McMath’s swimsuit in opposition to HP – that Canon all-in-ones disabled non-printing features when ink was low. That case was settled late final 12 months for an undisclosed sum. ®