Brother printers causing issues with third party inks: Difference between revisions

[[Brother Industries Ltd.|Brother]] has a reputation for allowing the use of third-party toner and being more consumer friendly than competing printer companies, such as [[HP]]. In recent years, they've implemented firmware updates that deliberately lower print quality when using toner that is not from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). These updates disable colour registration & other features, encouraging the use of toner manufactured by Brother over other toner options<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Jacobs |first=Skye |date=2025-03-05 |title=Brother printers are quietly sabotaging third-party toner with firmware updates |url=https://www.techspot.com/news/107022-brother-printers-quietly-sabotaging-third-party-toner-firmware.html}}</ref>.

*'''Vendor lock-in via DRM''' – Printers continue to function with third-party toner but print at lower quality unless OEM toner is installed<ref name=":0" />.

1. Consumers purchase a '''Brother laser printer''' that previously accepted third-party toner.

2. A '''firmware update (e.g., W1.56)''' is pushed, which does not notify users of any major functional changes.

*Color registration '''fails automatically''', misaligning prints.<ref name="cups">[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CUPS/Printer-specific_problems#Updating_the_firmware ArchWiki - Printer-specific problems with Brother.]</ref>

*'''Older firmware versions are removed from Brother’s servers''', preventing downgrades.<ref name="github-ohbrother">[https://github.com/CauldronDevelopmentLLC/oh-brother/issues/30 Discussion on firmware rollback for Brother printers.]</ref>

*Customers who were able to save money buying third-party toner are now '''coerced into expensive OEM toner purchases'''.

*Brother’s '''positive reputation''' for allowing third-party toner is tarnished.

*'''No prior warning''' was given to consumers before these updates were installed.

*Workarounds involve '''blocking firmware updates''' or attempting '''risky firmware downgrades''', both of which Brother actively discourages.

On March 5th 2025, following the publication of a video on the Louis Rossmann YouTube channel, Brother addressed the issue, in a response given to ArsTechnica, stating the following <ref name="ars-response">[https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/brother-denies-using-firmware-updates-to-brick-printers-with-third-party-ink/ Brother denies using firmware updates to brick printers with third-party ink]</ref>

They also detailed that

Finally they attributed the confusion from consumers to

"Brother encourages the use of Brother Genuine ink and toner for optimal performance and reliability, and it is standard practice that we perform a Brother [G]enuine check when troubleshooting a Brother printer. Compatible supplies may range in quality, and in order to verify that a printer is working properly, we like to troubleshoot with Brother Genuine supplies. We believe this check in the process may have led to a misunderstanding[,] but as we confirmed, the firmware update would not be responsible for the degradation of quality or removal of printer features."

*Users noticed that '''Brother printers accepted third-party toner but deliberately degraded print quality'''.

*A '''firmware update on the Brother MFC-3750''' '''disabled automatic color registration''' when third-party toner was detected.<ref name="reddit" />

*A project analyzing '''Brother firmware updates''' discovered that '''older firmware versions were removed from Brother’s servers''', making it impossible for users to roll back to a working version.<ref name="github-fwupd" />

*Another GitHub discussion showed that '''Brother firmware updates increasingly lock out more non-Brother toner cartridges with each new update'''<ref name="github-ohbrother" />.

*This is similar to [[HP Dynamic Security]] which block non-OEM cartridges.

[[File:Brother HL-L9310CDW 1.69 1.32 before registration deleted.png|alt=Brother HL-L9310CDW 1.69 1.32, before deletion of colour registration.|none|thumb|800x800px|'''Brother HL-L9310CDW 1.69 1.32, before deletion of colour registration.''']]

Deliberate function removal '''after purchase''' may qualify as '''deceptive trade practices''' in multiple jurisdictions.

#'''HL-L9310CDW (with firmware main 1.69, sub 1.31):''' On the menu of the printer, delete the colour registration to improve quality by reducing the misalignment of the individual colours. However, the best solution is to have a configuration option to set the offset individual (X, Y) for each colour with the smallest possible increment, perhaps through an external (CUPS) printer driver.