[link|http://news.com.com/2100-1028-990501.html?tag=fd_top|not good for us]

Printer maker Lexmark International Group won a preliminary injunction Thursday in efforts to prevent a company from selling computer chips that allow toner cartridges to be recycled.

Judge Karl Forester of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued the pretrial injunction against Static Control Components, a small Sanford, N.C.-based company that sells printer parts and other business supplies.

The order prohibits the company from selling its Smartek chip. When installed in compatible Lexmark printers, the chips allow the printers to use cheaper recycled toner cartridges that would otherwise be rejected by the printer's sensors.


This can only make replacement cartridges cost way more in the long run.