As businesses expand, so does the amount of office equipment and supplies. If you have multiple brands of printers, it can become confusing and hard to remember how many printers of what brand you use. The good news is you can stop stressing out about brand names. Printers will accept and use multiple styles of cartridges, including recycled cartridges, refill kits, and name-brand cartridges. Always consult your equipment manual to learn what type of ink and toner you need, and ask an expert about available cartridges that match your needs.
Most big-name brands will try to bully you into only buying and using their brand-name equipment that costs extravagantly more money for the same ink. Some brands have even gone a step further with their scare tactic to say that using other brand names with the same ink type is violating the buyers’ warranty and charge customers more for maintenance if they suspect you have used other brands, but this is not true, nor is it legal. Here is why:
Under the Warranty Improvement Act, United States Code Annotated, Title 15 Commerce and Trade, Chapter 50: Consumer Product Warranties 15, Section 2302:
“(c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the tears of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection may be waived by the commission if:
1.) The warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product will function properly only if the article or service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and
2.) The Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest.”
Unless the manufacturer proves that using a third-party product harms them, they cannot break the warranty or charge more for maintenance. No Company has come forward with proof of damages from using different brands of ink and toner. Not only do you have the right to your warranty not being voided, but also, the company cannot threaten to remove, discontinue support, or break a lease because you used a different brand of ink or toner than the brand of printer you are operating.
The Supreme Court (IBM vs. The United States) ruled that IBM could not threaten customers with “termination of their data processing equipment leases just because they did not use supplies manufactured by IBM. Such practice constituted a tying agreement and violated the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Law.”
Always consult a printing specialist when using different products, such as ink and toner, on your printer. Contact us today if you have any questions about your office supplies!