Replacing the ink cartridge in your printer can cost you more than the printer did when you bought it. In an effort to attain more market share, printer makers have decreased the prices of their printers. Due to competition the printer manufacturers have been thrust into making most of their profits from selling ink. There are cheaper means to get printer ink. Of course the majority of printer ink cartridges have lower priced copies available that are made by other companies.

It is often said that printer makers do all they can to make it hard to make compatible inks. Today s printer ink cartridges typically have built in data chips. These register the total amount of ink that is used by the printer. It is common for printers to refuse to print if the cartridge inside does not have a chip. It is difficult for the makers of compatible cartridges to produce the electronic chips. The difficulties of making cartridges that bear chips does limit the number of copy cartridge makers. If you are purchasing a copy cartridge for a printer that has a chip reader you need to make sure that the copy cartridge you buy has this technology incorporated.

There have been a number of court cases taken out against the makers of compatible ink by the printer makers. Static Control Components (SCC), a North Carolina based firm fought against a court case brought by Lexmark. Customers of Lexmark can have their cartridges refilled directly by the manufacturer. Lexmark brand printers incorporate a technology that makes the printer inoperable when it discovers that the cartridge was not filled again by Lexmark. The case revolved around an alleged DMCA infraction by the compatible manufacturing business. The legal struggle took seven years with the outcome that the Lexmark toner loading program was judged not to be copyright-able, opening the gates for compatibles manufacturers. After seven years of legal wrangling and appeals, Lexmark lost the action.

What are ink chips really for. Makers present a clear reason for the use of cartridge chips. The intent of the cartridge chip is to monitor the ink levels, according to manufacturers. The chips, however are not connected to any device that gauges ink levels, instead they record information supplied to them by the printer about use.

The market for compatible ink is very diverse with small and large manufacturers from all around the world. Some cheap copy cartridges have very poor quality ink compared the makers branded ink. Always check the reviews on the World Wide Web before purchasing. Selecting a high quality compatible ink can often save large amounts of cash and still have respectable quality prints. Just as there are big price differences between compatible and original ink cartridges there are also big price differences between compatible makes.

It can take you a long time to find the good deals. As well as looking at the major retailers there are also internet sites that do ink price comparison. This can be a good means to get the best discounts and deals.