Canon started supplying printer cartridges without built-in copy protection – due to a chip shortage
The company is already sending customers instructions on how to bypass “counterfeit” reports.
A global shortage of semiconductors has led to a reduction in the supply of chips in various industries, and now it seems to have reached the consumables as well.
Canon announced that its cartridges for multifunction devices (MFPs) no longer come with chips that confirm the presence of original ink.
The “copy protection” chips not only prevented third-party manufacturers from making analogs, but also performed some useful functions – for example, determining the level of remaining ink.
The company published a list of affected devices on its official Web site and advised users to ignore printer error messages because it could not recognize the cartridge.
To ensure an uninterrupted and reliable supply of consumables, we have decided to release them without semiconductor components – until normal supply is resumed. This will not affect print quality, but it may affect additional functions such as toner level detection.
Canon
How long the situation will last, and whether other office equipment manufacturers like HP and Epson are facing it, is still unknown. Canon has specified that it will search for the alternative suppliers of electronic components.
Earlier a class action suit was filed against Canon because of the inability to scan documents in the absence of ink in some models of MFPs. The plaintiffs claimed that the company artificially reduces the functionality of the devices and enriches itself through the sale of cartridges.
