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Canon Sued Over Disabled Scanning

A rather upset customer of Canon USA has filed a class action lawsuit against the camera and printer manufacturer for disabling scanning on certain printers when they run out of ink.

Canon Sued for Disabling Scanning When Printers Run Out of Ink | PetaPixel

David Leacraft filed a class action lawsuit against Canon on Tuesday this week for deceptive marketing and unjust enrichment. David was attempting to scan a document and found that his Pixma MG6320 all-in-one printer and was unable to do so due to a lack of ink. You can imagine his surprise and frustration when the printer wouldn’t carry out a function that does not require ink, because it had no ink.

This isn’t the first time that customers have been upset about this exact same issue. Going back to 2016, users have complained about this exact same problem. And the only response that Canon would issue, was that they had to install ink cartridges to access the full features of the printer.

Canon customer support agent saying you need ink to scan

Users Forced To Buy Ink

Because of the above, the lawsuit is claming that consumers are deceived into purchasing a prdoduct that was made to intentionally and unethically create functional bottlenecks by tying them to the printer ink levels, even when the function does not require ink.

The lawsuit states: “As opposed to the “single function” printers it sells, Canon calls these multifunction devices a “3-in-1” or “4-in-1” for the fact they purportedly provide three or four functions,”

“In truth, the All-in-One Printers do not scan or fax documents when the devices have low or empty ink cartridges (the “Design Issue”), and Canon’s advertising claims are false, misleading, and reasonably likely to deceive the public.”

The lawsuit also claims that Canon is doing this purely to increase its profits by selling ink cartridges, which leads to the accusation of unjust enrichment. The complaint goes on to say “There is no reason or technical basis for manufacturing the All-in-One Printers with an ink level detection function that causes the scanner to stop functioning when ink is low or empty. Canon designed the All-in-One Printers in such a way to require consumers to maintain ink in their devices regardless of whether they intend to print.”

The Lawsuit

The lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York and seeks at least $5,000,000 in awards, exclusive of interest, fees, and litigation costs.

The alleged violations alleged 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

 

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