Popular printer brand Brother recently came under fire for “going to the dark side” and blocking third-party ink or bricking printers with firmware updates, among other things. If you saw the news and started worrying about your machine, Brother just released a statement to clear the air and deny those rumors.
As we all know, computer printers are affordable because you’ll inevitably spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on ink cartridges and toner. One way millions of customers save money is by using third-party goods. It’s no secret that some brands like HP and Canon block the use of off-brand ink. We’ve seen manufacturers like HP even try to come up with monthly subscription fees for printers, requiring a 24/7 internet connection for monitoring and automatically shipping user’s ink. Obviously, that idea didn’t last long.
Brother is often considered an excellent choice for users. It doesn’t prevent scanning when ink is low or require certain cartridges to be operational. The company has managed to avoid all of that nonsense until now.
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Earlier this month, YouTuber Louis Rossman posted a video saying that Brother went to the dark side and is becoming just as anti-consumer as all the other brands. In fact, the YouTuber went as far as to claim firmware updates were bricking printers or blocking the use of third-party ink.
That video quickly racked up nearly 200,000 views, sparking a wave of concerns and backlash from users. Then, we started seeing reports pop up all over Reddit saying something similar. To make matters worse, printers that previously worked with non-official ink stopped working after recent firmware updates, like the firmware update W1.56.
None of that is good news, and we all want more choice when it comes to the products, goods, and services we buy and use daily. Now, Brother is answering those calls, suggesting that customers have nothing to worry about.
In a statement to Ars Technica, Brother Printers flat-out denounced those rumors and wants to assure customers that its firmware updates do not block the use of third-party ink in machines. Here’s one of its statements to Ars:
“We are aware of the recent false claims suggesting that a Brother firmware update may have restricted the use of third-party ink cartridges. Please be assured that Brother firmware updates do not block the use of third-party ink in our machines.”
The company then said that its printers will not purposefully degrade the quality of prints when a machine is not using Brother genuine ink or toner. However, it did mention that “it can’t guarantee the quality of printing while using third-party ink.” Furthermore, Brother mentioned that during troubleshooting, the machines would search for and verify the use of Brother Genuine ink, but that it wouldn’t prevent machines from being operational. Perhaps that’s where some of the confusion is coming from.
It’s hard to know what’s actually going on or who to believe, but considering how much backlash several other brands received for making these types of moves, I find it hard to imagine Brother would randomly do it in 2025. Based on the official statement from Brother, you don’t need to worry about firmware updates ruining your trusty laser printer, and third-party ink should continue to work. Even if the printer gives you a few complaints along the way.
In the meantime, it’s probably a good idea to turn off automatic updates or disconnect the printer from the internet entirely. Plus, how often does a printer even need an update? Really?
Source: Ars Technica
