Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

Fabled RepairTuber and right to repair crusader Louis Rossmann has shared a new video encapsulating his surprise, and disappointment, that Brother has morphed into an “anti-consumer printer company.” More information about Brother’s embrace of the dark side are shared on Rossmann’s

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, with the major two issues being new firmware disabling third party toner, and preventing (on color devices) color registration functionality.

Brother turns heel & becomes anti-consumer printer company

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Rossmann is clearly perturbed by Brother’s quiet volte-face with regard to aftermarket ink. Above he admits that he used to tell long-suffering HP or Canon printing device owners faces with cartridge DRM issues “Buy a brother laser printer for $100 and all of your woes will be solved.”

Sadly, “Brother is among the rest of them now,” mused the famous RepairTuber. With that, he admitted he would be stumped if asked to recommend a printer today. However, what he has recently seen of Brother makes him determined to keep his current occasionally used output peripheral off the internet and un-updated.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">

(Image credit: Louis Rossmann Wiki)

As mentioned in the intro, Rossmann has seen two big issues emerge for Brother printer users with recent firmware updates. Firstly, models that used to work with aftermarket ink, might refuse to work with the same cartridges in place post-update. Brother doesn’t always warn about such updates, so Rossmann says that it is important to keep your printer offline, if possible. Moreover, he reckons it is best to keep your printers offline, and “I highly suggest that you turn off your updates,” in light of these anti-consumer updates.

Another anti-consumer problem Rossmann highlights affects color devices. He cites reports from a Brother MFP user who noticed color calibration didn’t work with aftermarket inks post-update. They used to work, and if the update doesn’t allow the printer to calibrate with this aftermarket ink the cheaper carts become basically unusable.

Making matters worse, and an aspect of this tale which seems particularly dastardly, Rossmann says that older printer firmware is usually removed from websites. This means users can’t roll back when they discover the unwanted new ‘features’ post-update.

While he admittedly can’t do much about these printer industry machinations, Rossmann says it feels important to document these changes which show that property rights for individuals are disappearing.

Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.