Does HP prevent the use of refill inks in its printers?
No, HP does not prevent the use of refill inks in our printers because we believe in customer choice. However, we believe it is very important for customers to have access to the right information so that they can make an informed choice. HP does not recommend the use of refill inks because of possible quality and reliability issues that could incur hidden costs for customers — offseting any initial savings on purchase price. An independent study shows that problems occur in over 60% of refilled cartridges on average1. HP print cartridges are intended for single use, so output quality and consistency may suffer if their use is extended beyond the designed lifetime through refilling. Furthermore, given that HP ink formulations are patented, and that ink design itself affects the performance and efficient ink usage by the printer, consumers might be taking unnecessary risks by using refill inks. This is especially since the different brands of refill inks vary significantly in price and
