Underlying business model
A common business model for inkjet printers involves selling the actual printer at or below production cost, while dramatically marking up the price of the (proprietary) ink cartridges.
Alternatives for consumers are cheaper copies of cartridges, produced by other companies, and refilling cartridges, for which refill kits are available. Owing to the large differences in pricing due to OEM markups, there are many companies specializing in these alternative ink cartridges. Most printer manufacturers discourage refilling disposable cartridges. Aside from the obvious economic reasons, the heating elements in thermal cartridges often burn out when the ink supply is depleted, permanently damaging the print head.
Some inkjet printers enforce this product tying using microchips in the cartridges to prevent the use of third-party or refilled ink cartridges. In Lexmark Int'l v. Static Control Components, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that circumvention of this technique does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In fact, the European Commission ruled this practice anticompetitive: it will disappear in newer models sold in the European Union.
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7 Underlying business model
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