Brother laser printers are a great choice for those looking for a printer that is simple and easy to use. By “neat,” we mean that if a user installs a third-party cartridge, printer functions like scanning or printing will suddenly stop working. Some printer companies have simply blocked the use of third-party toner and ink, despite customer backlash and lawsuits. Brother laser printers have always been compatible with third-party accessories. However, a YouTube video posted this week, as well as some older social media posts, claim that Brother has taken the dubious route of degrading the performance of its laser printers by using third-party cartridges. Brother tells Ars that this is not true.
On March 3, YouTube user Louis Rossman posted a video claiming that “Brother has defected and become an anti-consumer printer company.” The video, spotted by Tom’s Hardware and with 163,000 views at the time of writing, appears to be based on a Reddit post from 2022. In that thread, Reddit user 20Factorial reported that the W1.56 firmware update caused the automatic color registration feature on his Brother MFC-3750 printer to stop working when using third-party cartridges.
20Factorial stated, “The printer is literally unusable because the colors don’t match.” The Reddit user went on to say that when asked, Brother customer service confirmed that “without genuine toner, the printer is unusable.”
Rossman created a Wiki page detailing the issues he found, including that “the printer will work with third-party toner, but print quality will be reduced unless OEM toner is installed.” He also noted that Brother printers automatically update when connected to the Internet and that Brother does not provide users with older firmware versions.
Brother denied in an interview with Ars Technica that it intentionally damaged its printers when users installed third-party toner or ink. The company said in a statement:
We are aware of recent misinformation that Brother firmware updates may limit the use of third-party cartridges. Rest assured that Brother firmware updates will not prevent the use of third-party cartridges in our devices.
Brother said it was “actively addressing the source of these false claims to ensure our customers have access to accurate information.”
20Factorial isn’t the only user to claim that the printer’s performance has dropped when using third-party cartridges. A month ago, Reddit user West-Skin4092 also said:
When I installed a non-genuine toner on my 3770[,], I got an error message. I removed the original chip from the Brother cartridge and replaced it with a non-genuine toner cartridge[,], the printer recognized it and worked fine.
Reddit user Gloomy-Score-8279 claims to have encountered a similar situation with his MFC-L3750CDW, but adds that the workaround for installing the Brother chip on third-party cartridges stopped working after an unspecified update.
Two years ago, fncamo reported on Reddit that their MFC-L3370CDW stopped printing and scanning when they tried to use third-party toner after installing new firmware.
When asked for more details, Brother told Ars that “the firmware update will not interfere with the use of compatible third-party products,” but added:
Brother printers will not intentionally reduce print quality by using genuine or non-genuine Brother ink/toner cartridges. Brother cannot verify the print quality of third party products that are compatible with Brother printers.
Brother recommends using genuine Brother ink and toner to ensure optimum performance and reliability. When troubleshooting Brother printers, we routinely test genuine Brother supplies. Compatible supplies may vary in quality, and to ensure your printer is working properly, we prefer to use genuine Brother supplies when troubleshooting. We believe that testing during this process may have caused confusion[,], but we have confirmed that updating the firmware does not result in any loss of quality or functionality from your printer.
Since most Brother printer failure reports come from the internet, it is impossible to confirm the accuracy of the reports and whether user error or cartridge selection is the cause.
It’s astounding that a printer company like Brother, known for its reliability and a greater focus on customer experience than its competitors, would flat-out lie about this. On the other hand, as the printing industry declines and competitors increasingly rely on ink and services to stay afloat, Brother has an incentive to push customers to use proprietary cartridges. Having seen other printer companies backlash over firmware updates that rendered their printers inoperable, Brother would be short-sighted if it weren’t willing to be honest about the potential for damage to its customers’ devices.
It’s worth noting that Brother’s statement to Ars leaves open the possibility that third-party cartridges may not work with Brother devices, but without more solid evidence, we can’t say for sure that Brother is behind the user complaints.
It’s worth noting that the Ars staffer used a Brother HL-2270DW laser printer with v4ink toner, but the device is unable to receive automatic updates. If we find additional evidence of damage to Brother printers, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, for better control over your printer, we recommend disabling automatic updates.
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Post time: May-15-2025