Imagine it this way. What if your car manufacturer developed new technology making it impossible for you to buy parts (like tires and windshield wipers) from any other vendor other than them? Gee, what would Toyota charge you for a new set of snow tires next winter for your Highlander if they were the only game in town?

The printer manufacturers are currently getting a little assist from a San Francisco-based company, Cryptography Research, to do just that with ink cartridges. It just kills the likes of HP, Lexmark, Cannon, etc that you would buy one of those cheaper, recycled ink cartridges from Staples, rather than their overpriced bill of fare. Are you one of those people that refills your cartridges yourself? Perish the thought!

Cryptography Research is hard at work developing a chip to stop all that nonsense, which they refer to, as yes, piracy.

"We're not saying we can end piracy, but our system is designed to recover from failure." - Kit Rogers, VP of Business Development Cryptography Research, to CNet

We all know that the companies that make printers make their real money off selling the ink cartridges. Believe me, none of them are starving either. The small minority of customers that take the time to shop with their conscience for recycled cartridges, often to save a buck as well, are just that - a small minority.

It's an even smaller minority of that small minority that do so by illegitimate means (counterfeit cartridges, counterfeit ink, remanufactured cartridges labeled as new, etc.).

Memo #2 to tech industry: Lighten up! It's one thing to crack down on counterfeiters. Cracking down on fair, legal, healthy competition would be something else - unsavory!