Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

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RepairTuber Louis Rossmann taken aback by Brother’s quiet turn to the dark side.

Brother printers join the dark side
(Image credit: Brother)

Fabled RepairTuber and right to repair crusader Louis Rossmann has shared a new video encapsulating his surprise, and disappointment, that Brother has morphed into an “anti-consumer printer company.” More information about Brother’s embrace of the dark side are shared on Rossmann’s wiki, with the major two issues being new firmware disabling third party toner, and preventing (on color devices) color registration functionality.

Brother turns heel & becomes anti-consumer printer company 😢 😢 😢 - YouTube Brother turns heel & becomes anti-consumer printer company 😢 😢 😢 - YouTube
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Rossmann is clearly perturbed by Brother’s quiet volte-face with regard to aftermarket ink. Above he admits that he used to tell long-suffering HP or Canon printing device owners faces with cartridge DRM issues “Buy a brother laser printer for $100 and all of your woes will be solved.”

Sadly, “Brother is among the rest of them now,” mused the famous RepairTuber. With that, he admitted he would be stumped if asked to recommend a printer today. However, what he has recently seen of Brother makes him determined to keep his current occasionally used output peripheral off the internet and un-updated.

(Image credit: Louis Rossmann Wiki)

As mentioned in the intro, Rossmann has seen two big issues emerge for Brother printer users with recent firmware updates. Firstly, models that used to work with aftermarket ink, might refuse to work with the same cartridges in place post-update. Brother doesn’t always warn about such updates, so Rossmann says that it is important to keep your printer offline, if possible. Moreover, he reckons it is best to keep your printers offline, and “I highly suggest that you turn off your updates,” in light of these anti-consumer updates.

Another anti-consumer problem Rossmann highlights affects color devices. He cites reports from a Brother MFP user who noticed color calibration didn’t work with aftermarket inks post-update. They used to work, and if the update doesn’t allow the printer to calibrate with this aftermarket ink the cheaper carts become basically unusable.

Making matters worse, and an aspect of this tale which seems particularly dastardly, Rossmann says that older printer firmware is usually removed from websites. This means users can’t roll back when they discover the unwanted new ‘features’ post-update.

While he admittedly can’t do much about these printer industry machinations, Rossmann says it feels important to document these changes which show that property rights for individuals are disappearing.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

38 Comments Comment from the forums
  • TheSecondPower
    This is why I bought a Brother printer, to avoid expensive cartridges and to escape printers that arbitrarily refuse to work. Sad.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    I don't about you but he looks more like a Louis and not a Lois! :p
    Reply
  • rgd1101
    spend a little more last time and got a ink tank printer.

    ....until they can id ink.
    Reply
  • TechieTwo
    Vendors learn a valuable lesson when their sales tank from unscrupulous manipulation of consumers.
    Reply
  • BTM18
    Ok, so never ever buy anything from Brother. Got it.
    Reply
  • endocine
    Et tu Brothé ?
    Reply
  • Giroro
    Every publicly traded corporation is an anti-consumer company. That's the entire point of why corporate executives are trained to use a dehumanizing word like "consumer". You are not a people to them, and that's the way they like it.
    Like the slag in a mine you are merely the useless byproduct that holds a resource in need of extraction.
    You know what will happen if this ruins Brother's sales? Well what happens with most companies is the self-serving sociopath responsible will move on to a bigger company, and ruin that - and then the next one, and so on. A whole career.
    It's preferrable that this becomes overwhelmingly successful for Brother, so the CEO is incentivized to stay in one place that has already been ruined. That's damage control.
    Start blaming the board of executives, then the CEO - not just the company. Board members often control many companies at the same time, and CEOs move around A LOT. Kazufumi Ikeda (Brother's new CEO as of last June) is going to finish ruining Brother to strip out as much cash for himself as possible - and hopefully stay there until he retires - which actually might be soon, he's old and a lifer at Brother.
    Actually a little curious if the whole company is doing this, or if some pharma-bro type in the international/western leadership trying to make a splash before jumping up the ladder at the next company.

    Here's the next problem: Brother is primarily a Sewing machine company. I bet $10,000 they try (and succeed) to add printer-style DRM to sewing consumables like thread within the next 2 years. Good luck trying to explain to your grandma she can't hem a seam anymore because of "the microchips".
    Although, the craft industry is already beyond filthy with DRM due to (extremely successful) companies like Cricut. Imagine if your printer could only print specific clip art - and you had to buy those digital files on a printer-ink inspired cartridge.
    So buy your sewing machine now, keep it offline, and hope that plastic piece of junk lasts the rest of your life.

    It's important for people to learn how to build and maintain their own machines, of all types. Most of all, try to save your money for companies who treat their customers, like customers.
    Reply
  • Elusive Ruse
    Brother was the last bastion of hope for printer brands…
    Reply
  • davisch
    Giroro said:
    Every publicly traded corporation is an anti-consumer company. That's the entire point of why corporate executives are trained to use a dehumanizing word like "consumer".
    They call us "consumers" because we aren't their customers. The board members are the customers and their stock is the product. This happens when the founding individual/team lose majority ownership of a company. Instead of pleasing the customer of their products/service, they have to please the board to keep their jobs. An unfortunate inevitability.

    We have to be diligent and vote with our wallets. Let the business die so a new one can be customer first for a while. But it does get much harder as patents and copyrights are bought by giant soulless conglomerates, which prevents smaller businesses from actually catering to customers. That's why we also desperately need some patent/copyright reform, but that's a whole other topic...
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    rgd1101 said:
    spend a little more last time and got a ink tank printer.

    ....until they can id ink.
    Better collect Ink Jet heads. I use to run tanks and the problem with them is your tank heads drying out. Perhaps the issue is fixed now with continuous cleaning cycles.

    I go with an old Color laser Samsung Printer (they sold out to HP). I still need to do the Toner mod (Resistor add to enable reset toner clock). There are fewer and fewr players and all are compromised sadly...
    Reply