# The global chip shortage forces Canon to remove toner copy protection



## Canon Rumors Guy (Jan 10, 2022)

> Canon has been forced to remove copy protection chips to their toner cartridges in some regions. It’s obviously more important that customers can print, than the copy protection for Canon’s benefit.
> Canon.de support has said that cartridges for a lot of ImageRunner series multi-function printers will be affected. For now, only toner cartridges are affected and ink-based cartridges will continue to have the chip.
> Customer experience will be affected by this decision, as the Canon driver software will give users a warning about not using “genuine Canon toner”. There is a workaround if you’re affected by this issue.
> Depending on the model of MFP that you have, you will be required to click, I agree, close, or press OK in the right spots to bypass the warning.
> ...



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## Del Paso (Jan 10, 2022)

Does this mean Canon import their chips, or is it due to Covid?
I can only hope that we Europeans will learn our lesson, namely that for such important technologies, we can't go on relying almost exclusively on imports...


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## Skyscraperfan (Jan 10, 2022)

I still remember ink cartridges that were half full, but stopped working because the chip had calculated that they must be empty. The only reason for thise chips is to hinder competition and make it harder to refill a cartridge. The customer never had any benefit from them. If Canon really wanted to know how much ink is left, there would be many better ways do to that than "counting" the drops that went out of the cartridge.


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## Chaitanya (Jan 11, 2022)




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## AJ (Jan 11, 2022)

Hopefully they'll issue camera batteries without chip protection.
Probably not. But there's hoping


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## kaihp (Jan 11, 2022)




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## Del Paso (Jan 11, 2022)

AJ said:


> Hopefully they'll issue camera batteries without chip protection.
> Probably not. But there's hoping


The only "non Canon" camera batteries I could ever consider buying are Panasonic's or Sanyo's. I would never fit a $ 3-5000 camera with cheapo stuff. Never!.


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## kten (Jan 11, 2022)

Skyscraperfan said:


> I still remember ink cartridges that were half full, but stopped working because the chip had calculated that they must be empty. The only reason for thise chips is to hinder competition and make it harder to refill a cartridge. The customer never had any benefit from them. If Canon really wanted to know how much ink is left, there would be many better ways do to that than "counting" the drops that went out of the cartridge.


totally agree these are not for the customers benefit and in printer world in general Canon have caught a fair amount of flak over the chips, sketchy firmware behaviour, waste ink pad issues and many other things oft considered anti consumer for some time. Not that they're the only company doing it, and I get they're a business and whatever gives them an edge but still sad it went this way. There was earlier optical based ink level designs that iirc worked well enough, forget who used it (possibly even Canon) but remember the comments on print forum decade or more back when was switched to these newer types due to level issues from seemingly inferior [for consumers] design.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 12, 2022)

When you do not get toner level info from the cartridges, its a pain. I use 3rd party toners in my Canon MF743 series laser printer. Images start to look slightly off when one color runs out. Since I have no idea as to how much toner is remaining in the other colors, I just replace all the cartridges which wastes far more toner than having a level gage that is 10 or 15% off.


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## degos (Jan 12, 2022)

Del Paso said:


> The only "non Canon" camera batteries I could ever consider buying are Panasonic's or Sanyo's. I would never fit a $ 3-5000 camera with cheapo stuff. Never!.



Maybe Sanyo could make a battery even better than Canon, but Canon won't let you find out. That's why battery DRM is morally wrong.


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## Del Paso (Jan 12, 2022)

degos said:


> Maybe Sanyo could make a battery even better than Canon, but Canon won't let you find out. That's why battery DRM is morally wrong.


Are you sure Canon batteries aren't made by Sanyo or Panasonic?
I have my doubts...


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 12, 2022)

degos said:


> That's why battery DRM is morally wrong.


That’s why you don’t own Canon products, then? Or have you compromised your ‘outstanding moral fiber’?


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## Del Paso (Jan 12, 2022)

degos said:


> Maybe Sanyo could make a battery even better than Canon, but Canon won't let you find out. That's why battery DRM is morally wrong.


This is not a world of cute pink baby unicorns, and a sound company should protect it's interests and market.


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