Brother laser printers have historically worked fine with non-Brother accessories, but a recent YouTube video and older social media posts claim that the company has started to degrade laser printer functionality with third-party cartridges.

A YouTube video posted by Louis Rossman claims that Brother has gone to the dark side and become an anti-consumer printer company. The video is based on a Reddit post from 2022, where a user claimed that a firmware update caused the automatic color registration feature to stop working on his Brother MFC-3750 when using third-party cartridges.

Brother's Response

Brother has denied the claims, stating that it does not intentionally brick printer functionality when users install third-party toner or ink. The company has not provided further explanation or details about the firmware updates or the alleged issues with third-party cartridges.

The incident has sparked debate about the use of third-party ink and toner cartridges, with some arguing that manufacturers should not be able to control what accessories are used with their products. Others argue that using third-party cartridges can void the warranty and potentially damage the printer.