Canon is getting away with printers that won’t scan sans ink — but HP might pay

Have been you hoping Canon could be held accountable for its all-in-one printers that mysteriously can’t scan once they’re low on ink, forcing you to purchase extra? Robust: the lawsuit we told you about final 12 months quietly led to a personal settlement quite than turning into a giant class-action.

I simply checked, and a choose already dismissed David Leacraft’s lawsuit in November, without Canon ever being pressured to point out what occurs once you attempt to scan with no full ink cartridge. (Quite a few Canon buyer help reps wrote that it merely doesn’t work.)

Right here’s the excellent news: HP, an excellent bigger and more shameless producer of printers, remains to be presumably dealing with down a class-action swimsuit for a similar apply.

As Reuters reports, a choose has refused to dismiss a lawsuit by Gary Freund and Wayne McMath that alleges many HP printers gained’t scan or fax paperwork when their ink cartridges report that they’ve run low.

“Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that HP had an obligation to reveal and had information of the alleged defect,” wrote Decide Beth Labson Freeman, within the order denying virtually all of HP’s present makes an attempt to dismiss the swimsuit. (You may learn it on the backside of this story.)

Apparently, neither Canon nor HP spent any time making an attempt to argue their printers do scan once they’re low on ink within the lawsuit responses I’ve learn. Maybe they will’t deny it? Epson, in the meantime, has an entire FAQ devoted to reassuring prospects that it hasn’t pulled that trick since 2008. (Don’t fear, Epson has other forms of printer enshittification.)

HP does appear to be masking its rear in a method. The corporate’s authentic description on Amazon for the Envy 6455e claimed that you can scan issues “each time”:

However once I went again now to test the same product page, it now reads in a different way: HP now not claims this printer can scan “each time” you need it to. Now, we wait to see whether or not the case can clear the bars wanted to doubtlessly change into a giant class-action trial, or whether or not it equally settles like Canon, or any variety of different outcomes.

I’m curious: do you could have a printer the place your scanner gained’t scan with out ink?