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The Use of Compatible Products Can Not Void Your Manufacturer's Warranty
Consumer Education
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act
United States Code Annotated - Title 15 Commerce and Trade
Chapter 50 Consumer Products Warranties 15 Section 2302
(c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using in connection with such product. any article (other than article or service provided without charge under terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection may be waived by the commission if,
1. The warrantor satisfies the commission that the warranted product will function only if the article of service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and
2. The commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest.
How this affects you?
The manufacturer of the printer, copier or fax machine you are using can not void warranty on your machine because you use a cartridge by someone else other than the machine manufacturer. This prohibition includes the use of compatible cartridges and remanufactured cartridges.
US law also prohibits the manufactures of your equipment from requiring the use of OEM ink or toner or charging extra fees if you use products other than OEM products with their equipment. Those requirements and/or fees are in violation of existing anti-trust acts.
IBM vs. The United States
The Sherman-Clayton-Antitrust Act
The Supreme Court (IBM vs.The Unitede States) held that IBM could not threaten customers with termination of their data processing equipment leases just because they did not use supplies manufactured by IBM. Such practices constitute a "tying agreement" and was found to be in violation of the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Law.
How This Affects You?
Free choice of vendor allows competition and keeps prices affordable. Stand up for your right of free choice of vendor because you are acting within the letter of the law. Your printer manufactures and printer service people are aware of lower priced supplies, so threatening to void warranties and service call charges for using compatible supplies are their only defense of tryimg to limit competition.
Save this information to protect yourself and to imtimidate them with their illegal actions.
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