HP has apologized to customers with printers that started to reject non-HP ink cartridges after the 13th of September this year. The printer manufacturer has stated to be working on a firmware update that allows HP printer owners to use non-HP cartridges again.
Two weeks ago, on the 13th of September, several HP printer types started to reject non-HP ink cartridges. An online ink retailer found that the printers had a pre-programmed date in their firmware from which private label, non-HP ink cartridges would no longer be accepted.
HP admitted that it previously made changes to its software and stated it did so to, "protect its intellectual property, innovation and to protect the communication between the cartridge and the printer."
In the same statement the printer manufacturer also said that, "affected printers will continue to work with refilled cartridges if they contain the original HP security chip. Other cartridges possibly don’t work."
It appears the company didn't account for the large amount of attention the issue got in the press. It appears at least that attention has made the printer manufacturer decide to reverse the changes in its firmware that made HP printers reject non-HP cartridges.
It's unclear when the company will release the update.
