HP Wins Lawsuit Over Ink Cartridges

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s biggest computer printer maker, won the first trial of almost three dozen lawsuits charging that it had duped consumers by selling them new printers with cartridges that were only half-full of ink.

A jury at a state court in Hillsborough, N.C., found that consumers typically didn’t expect the cartridge in new printers to be the same as replacement cartridges they bought, said Richard McCune, a lawyer for the consumers.

The North Carolina suit, certified as a class action, was the first over this issue to go to trial, and the jury verdict could affect the outcome of other pending cases, McCune said.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard began putting in half-filled cartridges in 1998 and told consumers only in 2001 after it was sued, he said.