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HP Fined $14 Million For 'Cartelization' of Ink Cartridges, Toner, PCs (arstechnica.com) 54

Posted by BeauHD from the proof-is-in-the-printing dept.
India's Competition Commission has fined HP India and its partners about 1.4 billion rupees ($14.4 million), alleging the company colluded with resellers to rig government PC bids and fix prices for ink cartridges, toner, and other printing supplies. "It said that HP was aiming to outcompete other OEMs and discourage resellers from selling 'counterfeit' ink and toner," adds Ars Technica. From the report: In an order, the CCI said that HP India worked with five resellers to coordinate their bid prices for government contracts to increase the chances of an HP partner winning the contracts. The company was fined 1.3 billion rupees (about $13.1 million). [...] HP was also fined 119.8 million rupees (about $1.2 million) for "indulging in cartelization in sale and supply of supplies products comprising of toner, cartridges, and other consumable used with print hardware products," CCI said in its announcement. The agency also fined 21 HP resellers 35.2 million rupees (about $365,335).

In a separate order, the CCI said that WhatsApp records showed that HP and 16 of its Tier-2 reseller partners operated "in a collusive arrangement" and that the messages show the companies engaging in "bid rigging, including cover bidding, price fixation, and customer allocation during 2017-2020." HP India played a central role, the regulator said.

Per the order, HP India said that high printing supply prices led some resellers to threaten to "shift to low-cost counterfeit products to compete on price." "HP India was commercially forced into a position where it had to support the collusive arrangement adopted by the Tier-2 resellers," the order reads. For its part, the order said that HP India "humbly objects to HP India's role being characterized as a 'kingpin' of the entire collusive arrangement." [...] The CCI also ordered HP India and its channel partners to "cease and desist from anti-competitive conduct" and to hold competition compliance training programs within 60 days.

HP Fined $14 Million For 'Cartelization' of Ink Cartridges, Toner, PCs More | Reply

HP Fined $14 Million For 'Cartelization' of Ink Cartridges, Toner, PCs

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  • HP INK only $39.99/GAL (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @07:10PM (#66242406)

    HP INK only $39.99/GAL

    • Re:HP INK only $39.99/GAL (Score:4, Informative)

      by Samantha Wright ( 1324923 ) on Friday July 17, 2026 @02:00AM (#66242716) Homepage Journal

      I regret to inform you that you have woefully underestimated it. The actual retail rate offered to consumers is closer to $2200 US per gallon. Sources: internet-ink.com [internet-ink.com], cbc.ca [www.cbc.ca]. This $14 million fine is only worth like, seven thousand gallons, or less than 200 oil barrels of ink.

      • Re:HP INK only $39.99/GAL (Score:4, Interesting)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot.worf@net> on Friday July 17, 2026 @11:04AM (#66243252)

        I regret to inform you that you have woefully underestimated it. The actual retail rate offered to consumers is closer to $2200 US per gallon. Sources: internet-ink.com, cbc.ca. This $14 million fine is only worth like, seven thousand gallons, or less than 200 oil barrels of ink.

        That puts it among the most expensive liquids around. It beats things like Dom Perignon (champagne), human blood, spider and snake venom (used in making anti-venom), and horseshoe crab blood (blue blood) which is used in medicine.

        Printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids out there, beating out many liquids used to create lifesaving medications.

    • HP INK only $39.99/GAL

      It's pretty sad that this joke doesn't even come close to the actual dollar amount (which is estimated to be between $2,000 and $10,000 a gallon.)

      Cartelization is a clickbait term, but an accurate one. (Except for the sending criminal executives to prison of course.)

  • HP has always been the biggest offender (Score:5, Informative)

    by Excelcia ( 906188 ) <slashdot@excelcia.ca> on Thursday July 16, 2026 @07:10PM (#66242408) Homepage Journal

    Lexmark invented the weaponization of ink and Toner, but it was HP that took it to a fine art. Where you can buy a cartridge but not actually own the ink in it or the right to use it. I moved on to Brother some years ago and never looked back. I wrote an article about it [productrevue.ca] seven years ago, and have never regretted dropping them. And the Brother MFC-J6945DW I moved to then, I still use it. Large format, fantastic quality, giant refillable cartridges. My price per page over and above the cost of paper is a rounding error.

    • Re:HP has always been the biggest offender (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ukoda ( 537183 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @07:49PM (#66242458) Homepage
      In the early days I used HP because it was drama free for use it Linux. They broke that circa 2013 with printers that only worked with Windows. Really since then they have only got worse and worse to the point they can now only be described as evil. I second the OP in recommending Brother printers, I have never regretted buying one, currently using the DCP-L3560CDW.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Narcocide ( 102829 )

        I also used to use HP printers because they were drama-free on Linux. I switched to a Brother printer, which has a neat "HP Emulation Mode" setting. I didn't even have to change drivers.

      • Once H-P moved the print processing to the computer, and decided to only support Windows and Mac drivers, it was all over for the Unix/HP LaserJet romance. Customers would call us to complain that they bought a "new H-P printer and it won't work with Solaris!". Then I'd have to explain that the device they bought doesn't have Unix support, and they'd have to use hplip. Or return the thing and get a real printer that understands PCL, Postscript, HPGL, etc. without needing an intermediary.

    • Friends don't let friends use HP. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @08:46PM (#66242514) Homepage Journal

      When other people use HP, it makes me angry. It's like giving money to a powerful mafia; even if I am not the one dealing with the mafia the power others give to them makes them a threat to me.

      The more HP succeeds at consumer-hostility, the fewer options I have that are not consumer-hostile. Even Brother will start to look with envy upon the kind of money that HP makes through customer abuse. Someday, new leadership will inherit Brother and see no competitive forces keeping its quality of service high, and it will become HP's mini-me.

      Spread the word. Every time you use an HP device, the terrorists win.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jonwil ( 467024 )

        I would never buy HP junk. My current printer is a Canon inkjet (I absolutely need color printing and color lasers are still too expensive) and the printer I buy to replace this one is going to be another Canon.

        • If you do a lot of color printing, I would suggest one of the mega tank printers. Bought a Canon G3270 last year and have printed 900-1000 4x6 photos before having to refill one of the inks. And the ink bottles are $15 each.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jonwil ( 467024 )

            It's hard to justify the tank printers for my use case, I print enough color that I need a color printer but I don't print enough to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a tank printer instead of just buying a cheaper normal inkjet and buying cartridges as needed.

      • The terrorists won here almost two decades ago. This is how long I had this one HP printer I own. Two of the cartridges are still the ones included with the printer back then.

  • Cost of doing business. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @07:11PM (#66242416)

    This fine doesn't even make a dent in the amount of money they made from doing this. If the fine doesn't exceed 100% of profits then it's not a fine, it's a cost of doing business.

    • Re:Cost of doing business. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @09:16PM (#66242532)

      This fine doesn't even make a dent in the amount of money they made from doing this. If the fine doesn't exceed 100% of profits then it's not a fine, it's a cost of doing business.

      Perhaps we will start to see the punishments fit the crime when the term premeditated fraud in the first degree is used by a judge to describe the felonous MBA fuckery currently building the FY27 balance sheets of Too Big To Fail.

    • Eh... theres still a sting in the tail. I suspect these sorts of fines are more about "We want you to fix this" rather than "We want you to bleed for doing this". The thing is, $14 mil aint a drop of piss in the oceans of HPs money supply, but what IS important is that its a court order, and disobeying the court order can turn this from "insignificant financial mosquito bite" to "Oh shit, theres an interpol arrest warrant out for the CEO on criminal contempt charges".

      Rule number #1 and #2 of any interaction

      • HP's revenue in 2025 was 56 billion dollars. So the fine is 0.025% of their revenue. In comparison, the cost of replacing the TP in the HP corporate restrooms is 0.05% of their revenue (I made that last one up).

        This fine won't even get noticed by HP.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      This fine doesn't even make a dent in the amount of money they made from doing this. If the fine doesn't exceed 100% of profits then it's not a fine, it's a cost of doing business.

      Yep, $14 million, that's like 3, maybe 4 replacement ink cartridges.

      In several nations (Sweden and Germany for example) a speeding fine is charged as a portion of your income (I believe Sweden is a percentage and Germany is a number of days up to 365). The fine needs to be proportionate to the companies revenue in order to be an effective deterrent. Much like with speeding fines, here in the UK an S15 (less than 15 miles over the posted limit) is £100, that'll sting a little bit but it's not a huge

    • According to the court docs, HP wasn't the primary offender. They were given a light punishment because it looks like they were drawn in unwillingly. The resellers in India are the ones who formed a cartel and they used it against their customers and their supplier.

      When reading the ruling, I noticed that a lot of the Indian companies had the same addresses.

  • HP is like Wells Fargo (Score:4, Insightful)

    by theurge14 ( 820596 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @07:39PM (#66242440)

    At this point in history I can't understand why anyone is still using HP printers. Brother is right there.

    • My last HP was the 5L. nearly 30 years ago. Never had another HP. Brother ever since, even now.

    • Inertia? They're still the biggest and most recognizable brand in printerland. And the hardware is good, it's the bloated software, subscriptions, and attitude towards 3rd party ink that're the problem.

      • My last HP OfficeJet would drop network connection every few hours and had to be rebooted to reconnect. I had to go into settings and schedule the printer to reboot itself every 6 hours to prevent this.

        I bought a Brother laser printer and haven't looked back.

  • I've tried the cheap ink cartridges in Epson printers in the past. Every time it clogged my print heads and I could not get them clean. Every "clean" cycle attempt just eats ink like crazy too. In the end I've had to buy a new printer.

    • That was my experience with epson mid 90's too.

      And back then, i was a frequent printer.

      If you don't print often, go laser. Can sit for years without use, wake it up, and it all works.

      • "Can sit for years without use, wake it up, and it all works." - Unless of course it wakes up, calls home, downloads and updates its firmware, and now tells you since it was sitting so long you need to purchase new toner cartridges before you can print again. Your current ones have "expired". Haven't seen this yet? You will. Most printer manufacturers are evil as far as I'm concerned. Only a matter of time.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Coius ( 743781 )

          this is why I stop the updates. Even newer consumer HP printers can do this. A new Color laserjet I got through my company discount (Yes, I work for HP and side with customers constantly instead) has this blocked from the printer. and it's working just fine. Now, I'm also critical of HP, but my EcoTank T4800 tried to lock me out and force me to pay Epson a service fee because it "claimed" my ink recovery pads were full. The Very ones I already replaced on the rear corner of the printer, and refused to pr

        • Unless of course it wakes up, calls home, downloads and updates its firmware, and now tells you since it was sitting so long you need to purchase new toner cartridges before you can print again.

          Brother, at least for now, doesn't do this. And that's what I use at the house.

          • Yep, I have a Brother laser printer too simply because Brother seems like one of the last printer manufacturers left that have not gone full tard. It's only a matter of time though.

  • Wow (Score:3)

    by galvanash ( 631838 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @08:08PM (#66242480)

    14 Million dollars? That is a rounding error for HP...

  • $14 million? (Score:3)

    by Raistlin77 ( 754120 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @08:37PM (#66242500)
    That's not even a slap on the wrist. They may as well have sentenced HP to 1 hour of community service.
  • $14M is a joke. That's less than their annual bribe budget for india alone.
  • I've been in the copier/printer business for over 40 years. When I started, most copiers used dispersant & liquid ink mixed together. When dry process took over, everything was just black & white. In the 90's when color started coming along, the black toner was one price, but the yellow, magenta, cyan (CMYK for color) was MUCH more expensive. When we troubleshoot problems, it is common to swap one color with another to see if the problem moves with the imaging unit or stays, which could mean a laser

  • That's chump change to HP. They spent more on their weekend getaways to Jeff's Fantasy Island.

  • Is one thing when the partners say:
    We will move to non-HP Ink, as in SmartInk or Cartridge world, that you as a consumer know right away that they are not HP, and know what you are geting into...

    And a very different thing is to threaten to sell COUNTERFEIT cartridges, as in cartridges that say HP in the Box, HP in the plastic moldings, mimic the HP box, logos and holograms, and yet you as a consumer are none-the-wiser that these were not made by HP

    The partners should have been fined harder

    • Yeah, I noticed that too. They're the ones who formed a cartel to screw both their clients and HP, but they're hit with far smaller fines. Even though a lot of those companies are clearly not separate, they share physical addresses.
  • Maybe their management doesn't know about their practices. Mafia things are a secretive business, if you talk too much you get a "sasso in bocca" (a stone in the mouth) and you'd be silent forever.

  • rich cunt problems (Score:3)

    by redback ( 15527 ) on Friday July 17, 2026 @12:56AM (#66242664)

    If the punishment is a fine its legal for a price.

  • Used to have HP printers because they were running fine with Linux. And itwas good printer at the time. And then they started updating their firmware like every other week to prevent people choosing their ink (which was crazy expensive), which is illegal where I live. Up to the point, they transformed the printer into a brick....Will never buy one again.Now using Epson Ecotank. haven't seen a HP printer for years....

  • Remember when Carly Fiorina got to lead HP? It's been downhill ever since. What once was a reliable provider of high-grade equipment became a company to avoid.

  • EU (Score:3)

    by Elektroschock ( 659467 ) on Friday July 17, 2026 @03:46AM (#66242766)

    I wish the European Union would take similar action. Mario Draghi claimed he wanted to solve the issue 20 years ago. Time to revisit it.

    https://competition-policy.ec.... [europa.eu]

  • I hate them so much i stopped having one and I just go to the library which is two blocks away if I want to print something.

  • So the US didn't go for the same.

  • That's back pocket change to a company that big, and a teeny tiny fraction of the profits they made from their scummy scammy practises.

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