The ongoing global chip shortage has affected different industries in numerous ways, as most of us are aware of by now. These include the cutting out of certain features from cars, the inability for companies to keep up with product demand, shipment delays, and so on.
No stranger to this issue is Japanese giant Canon, which is already facing difficulties for the production of its cameras. More recently, the shortages have also extended to affect its printer division, forcing the company to drop the Digital Rights Management (DRM) authenticity verification feature from toner cartridges for its multi-function printers (MFPs) in some regions.
According to a report by Tom’s Hardware, Canon Germany has issued a notice to customers via email that informs them of the significant change. The company also noted that using the newly released cartridges that lack the necessary chips for its DRM system will inevitably trigger a warning, which is originally designed to prevent users from using counterfeit toners.
Included together with the notice are instructions on how to bypass the authenticity check – an ironic move for a company that has been stern against using non first-party cartridges for its MFPs. According to the email, users are required to undergo several steps to dodge the DRM, which also depends on the printer model that they are using. For some Canon MFPs, users are simply required to click “Close” or “I Agree”, while certain models will have them to press “OK” at the right time in the correct dialog in order to print or copy.
The company also warns customers of another major drawback when using the new toner cartridges, which is even more concerning. Due to the lack of the necessary chips, the printers can no longer keep count of prints, so it can no longer alert the user when the cartridges are running low on toner.
Canon assures that this change is only temporary and will restart the sales of cartridge toners with the necessary chips when “normal supply is restored.” Aside from Germany, it is not specified which other regions are also affected by this issue.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware / Canon Germany)
