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NJ Governor Christie Vetoes Cartridge Page-Yield Law, but Assembly Hopes to Re-Introduce it

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christieNorthJersey.com reports that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has vetoed a proposed New Jersey state law that would require sellers of ink cartridges to display on a cartridge how many printed pages the user could expect the cartridges to print. However, the matter may not be at rest, as the New Jersey State Assembly will be holding a hearing to re-introduce the bill.

The bill (A1230) 33-6 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.

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.