Canon Sued for Disable The Scanning Feature When Printers Run Out of Ink

Canon USA has been sued recently for not granting owners of specific printers to use the scanner or faxing functions in case they run out of ink.

The Printer companies are already well-renowned for pricing offensive ink and not permitting the users to print black when they are running out of color ink.

On Tuesday, one of the customers of Canon, David Leacraft has filed a class-action lawsuit against Canon, claiming deceptive marketing and unjust endowment by the printer manufacturer.

Nature of action

This is a class action that is being confronted by many users who have brought Canon. However, Canon is very famous for its all-in-one feature printer, it is a multifunction device that can print, scan, copy, and there are some cases where it faxes documents.

But the reality is that this all-in-one device does not fax document nor scan it when it has low ink or runs out of ink. After filing the lawsuit, Canon claimed that all the accusations are false and misleading.

Canon claimed that they have never warned users that ink is one of the necessary elements in case if they want to scan or fax documents. 

Disabling printers for Scan & Copy when out of ink

The plaintiff was using the Pixma MG6320 printer from Canon, and while using it he discovered that the “all-in-one” machine refused to scan or fax documents if the printer ran out of ink.

However, it’s not the first time, there are many other customers who are facing such issues since 2016. Many have contacted Canon regarding this problem, and at that time they were being told by the agents that ink cartridges must be installed, and not only this but they also contain ink so that everyone can use the printer’s feature.

Canon forcing users to buy ink cartridges

In the lawsuit, it’s claimed that the users were being deceived for buying a product that was created to artificially and unethically add functional bottlenecks by uniting them to ink levels.

However, the main motive of Canon for doing this is to increase its profits by selling replacement ink cartridges, and it was also accused of unjust enrichment.

The printer inks expire typically after two or three years, whether it’s being used or not, that’s why the users were being forced to keep buying new ink so that it can use all the functions of the device.

Alleged violations

Here are the alleged violations testified in the complaint are:-

• The New York General Business Law § 349
• The New York General Business Law § 350
• Breach of express warranties
• Unjust enrichment
• Failure to disclose material information

The lawsuit was registered in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York which seeks compensation of at least $5,000,000 in awards, but it has not to been approved in the class-action case. 

In case if this lawsuit gets approved by the District Court then any buyer of Canon printers may be inclined to seek compensation.

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