It's not just printers. I have a Panasonic camera and they announced a software upgrade to correct a colour tinge issue but the small print also stated that, after the "upgrade", the camera would no longer accept third party batteries. They say it's to protect the owners from faulty batteries so why do they charge 6 times the price for oem ones? They could halve their prices and still make a healthy profit but they are greedy like the printer manufacturers.