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New Jersey Bill Would Require Ink-Cartridge Manufacturers to Indicate Cost of Printing 1,000 Pages

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old-ink-cartridges (1)NJ.com reports that the New Jersey Senate has passed a bill (A1230) 33-6 that would require ink-cartridge makers to mark their cartridges with an estimate of how much the average cost would be to print 1,000 pages. The bill is headed toward New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s desk, who can either sign the bill into law or veto it.

Violators would be subject to a monetary penalty of not more than $10,000 for a first offense and not more than $20,000 for any subsequent offense. A violation can also result in cease-and-desist orders issued by the New Jersey Attorney General, the assessment of punitive damages, and the awarding of treble damages and costs to the injured party.

The state Senate today passed the bill (A1230) 33-6. More specifically, the bill requires:

  • The ink cartridge have an attached tag or label that conspicuously displays the average cost per 1,000 printed pages for black text printing; and
  • If the printer is capable of printing photographs or in color, its packaging, or conspicuously displayed and attached tag or label, must include the average cost per 1,000 printed pages for color printing. 
  • The average cost per page for black text printing shall be calculated by dividing the manufacturer’s suggested retail price by the cartridge yield for all of the printer’s ink cartridges.  The average cost per page shall be the total cost per page for all the printer’s ink cartridges. Yield shall be determined using the ISO/IEC 24711:2007 and ISO/IEC 19752:2007 standards for determining black text yields.
  • The average cost per page for color printing shall be calculated by dividing the manufacturer’s suggested retail price by the cartridge yield for all of the printer’s ink cartridges. The average cost per page shall be total cost per page for all of the printer’s ink cartridges. Yield shall be determined using the ISO/IEC 24711:2007 and ISO/IEC 24712:2007 standards for color printing. 

Oddly, the bill only applies to ink – not toner – cartridges.

The bill passed the New Jersey Assembly in February 2012, but was not acted upon until the New Jersey Senate took it up today without giving it a committee hearing.