Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
I figure there must be a BUNCH of lawyers here, just THRILLED at the idea of spending their free time answering legal questions....
So I'm going to ask one:
On the Brother website (and I'm just using Brother as an example at hand) they repeatedly say:
"The Brother limited warranty does not apply to any problem that is caused by the use of third party drum units, toner cartridges or toner."
Doesn't the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act make that illegal, saying if they offer a warranty, it MUST be honored even with the use of third party parts?
Just wondering.
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I am an attorney, so I will open this with a disclaimer:
The following statement does not represent legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. I am licensed to practice state and federal law in the state of North Carolina. The following statements are for educational purposes only and do not apply to any individual case.
Now then... The MM Act is designed to protect consumers by making the language of warranties simple, laying out how a warrantor can honor the warranty and some things that a warrantor can and cannot do.
For example, a warranty cannot violate anti-trust laws. However, a warranty can set out the terms of what will void that warranty as long as it is in plain language. For instance, attempting to "unlock" an e-reader voids the warranty as to almost every e-reader company. At one point in time, even attempting to open up a MacBook and look inside could void the warranty
But contractually, it is well within a printer company's rights to say that if you want us to pay for repairs or replace it when you break it, you can only use ink and toner products that we have stated are compatible with the product. It is their way of protecting themselves from grey market companies who stick a label on a box when it is not, in fact, ink or toner that was ever meant to work with that printer. If I'm Epson, I don't want to pay out a warranty on my user because they could not be bothered to use the ink that is designed for that printer.