HP Must Defend Half-Empty "Economy" Ink Cartridges

An Anonymous Coward excerpts this short Detroit News story, which begins "PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard Co. must defend the sale of half-full ink cartridges with its printers after a Minnesota appellate court reinstated a lawsuit against the world's largest maker of printers. Three Minnesota women claim that the company doesn't reveal that the 'economy cartridges' installed on new printers are only half full of ink." The cost of refills is why I've given up on inkjet printers entirely (for now) -- guess which division of HP made more money than the other four combined?

Comments

Re:It is explained in the small print.

[tomhudson]

Actually, one of my hobbies is cooking (don't laugh until you've seen chicks react to my chewie chocolate-chocolate chip cookies) and all my measuring tools indicate 8 oz = 1 cup.

Also, if you remember your grade school math, both US and Imperial measurement tables indicated 8 oz = 1 cup.

The demi-tasse (and that's what it was called in the days of the British Empire) that you are referring to was never a coffee cup - but then again, coffee was for the unrefined, unwashed masses who wouldn't know a "good cuppa tea".

But back on-topic... H-P, and all the other vendors, have engaged in practices that are deceptive (why would you even NEED small print if you weren't).

Remember: the big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.

Re:Perhaps I'm being naive,

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we just found the last person on earth that doesn't understand how HP screws people over on the ink cartridges!

Re:It is explained in the small print.

[david duncan scott]

Yes, I know what a demi-tasse is, and no, I was referring to a coffee cup. The cup on the side of a Maxwell House can is not a demi-tasse, it's a coffee cup, and it holds (about) 6 ounces. Here, look at this place setting -- see that cup? Find some like that, and measure their capacities.

A "measured cup" is of course 8 ounces, but that doesn't mean that every "cup" is or should be 8 ounces. The Stanley Cup is bigger, most bra cups are bigger, and the cup in a jock strap is usually smaller. Similarly, a coffee mug is smaller than a beer mug, even though they're both "mugs".

(Oh, and you'll get no laughter from me. Cooking is a necessary as well as noble art. It would be a hungry world if we had to eat everything raw off the ground.)

Re: Why do people bother with inkjets?

[jim3e8]

Oddly enough, I'm reading slashdot with Pornzilla and your post came through as

"[garbled] right now [garbled] rub it HARD [garbled] Yeah [garbled] dampness [garbled] RUB HARD WITH A THUMB [garbled] keep it up"

Hmm.