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The company instructs its users to install unofficial ink cartridges in the absence of components used by the official
In recent months the world has been experiencing a global crisis of scarcity of chips Y semiconductors It has affected multiple industries that live off these components, from consumer electronics to automotive. In addition to multiple economic problems, this commercial paralysis has also left ironic stamps, such as having forced Canon to explain to users how to install unofficial ink cartridges in their printers.
Years ago, manufacturers such as Canon, HP, Epson or Lexmark came up with a strategy to accelerate their business: their printers work only with cartridges from ink equipped with chips that are used to detect the remaining ink levels. This strategy has allowed them to force users to use the official cartridges of each brand, much more expensive than filling the cartridges with ink manually or using ‘fake’ cartridges, something they have considered as piracy once morest your digital rights.
The global shortage of chips has blown that strategy up for Canon. And, in the absence of cartridges with those specific components, the Japanese company has had no choice but to accept that their printers work with unofficial ink cartridges and give instructions to their users on how to do what they did a few weeks ago. they criminalized.
In a publication on your website for Europe, Canon points out the affected models and instructs users of its printers to configure them to operate using unofficial ink cartridges.
‘Fake’ cartridges that work well
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The irony does not end here. Consumer groups and digital rights activists have spent years denouncing this strategy of printer manufacturers, who until now claimed that it was necessary to use official ink cartridges (with chips) to ensure the quality of Print. That argument has been exposed. “Although there is no negative impact on print quality when using consumables without Electronic components, certain ancillary functions, such as the ability to detect toner levels, may be affected ”, they explain. That itself might negatively affect users.
Despite all the inconsistencies exposed by this global semiconductor crisis, Canon has explained that it is an exceptional measure that it will maintain “until normal supply is resumed.”
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