Flashed Custom Firmware To My Printer: Is It Legal?

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Some Background:

 

I have a laser printer “Samsung ML-1675”, which I bought about a year back. It was working fine and I was more than pleased with it, until it stopped printing because of low toner (ink) level. I don’t have much experience with printers but being a DIY type of guy, I decided to do it myself,

 

The first step was to get information on how to refill this specific Printer Model. So I spent some time searching various kind of info on the internet. Soon, I realized that this specific model (like many other newer models) has this counter chip which needs to be replaced with every refill. So it clearly meant that I won’t be able to do the refill myself unless I had an extra counter chip. So I decided to seek some professional help and took it to the market.

 

At the market, I found that refilling printers that had this counter chip was much more expensive than refilling the old printers that didn’t have the chip. I had bought the printer for about 5000 PKR, and I was told that the refilling would cost 1300PKR. That is each time I had to refill, I would have to pay more than 1/5 of the price of the printer. And with every refill, I would get about 1000 pages. This was completely unacceptable.

 

Previously, when I searched online for various kind of info, I learned something called “Custom Firmware Flashing”. For those who don’t know what this means, let me explain it a little. (I really like explaining @yordan)

 

Firmware, Custom Firmware and Flashing?

 

Firmware is permanent software programmed into the read-only memory of a device. Almost every electronic device that is used with computers nowadays has its own read-only memory in which its specific software (firmware) is present. The Factory Firmware of the printer I had was designed in such a way that it counts the number of pages printed and stores this data in a separate chip (the counter chip I mentioned above). The firmware is designed in such a way that when the count reaches a specific number, the printer would stop printing, even if it has lots of toner left in it. Now I don’t know why it is designed this way, but this is how it is. So basically, you are limited to certain number of prints you can perform, and then you will have to replace the counter chip… Not very End-user friendly.

 

This firmware is actually a piece of software. So as with all software, it can be modified in different ways. Now, if someone modifies the firmware in such a way, that it doesn’t stop the printing process when the page count reaches certain value. Or it can be even modified to stop counting pages and thus making the printing completely independent of the counter chip. This would now be called a “Custom Firmware”

 

And the process of installing a firmware onto the read-only memory of a device is called flashing. So when you install a custom firmware to a device, this would now be called “Custom firmware Flashing”.

 

Custom firmware can also be built from scratch, but this would be very time consuming and impractical.

 

Obviously, every other computer user doesn’t have the skills necessary to modify firmwares. Only few people (who are expert coders) can do that. And some of them make their work public, so that anyone can use their work on their own devices.

 

My story continues:

 

So I found such a firmware specifically for my Printer model, I gave it a try i.e. I flashed it and it worked straight away. The printer started working without me having to refill the toner. This clearly demonstrates that the printer had the capacity to print more pages but because of some silly counter chip, it was restricted from performing fully.

 

What I really want to know:

 

So what I really want to know is “Is it legal to flash a custom firmware?”

 

From what I know about the legality of software and hardware, I have a strong opinion that the actual process of flashing something to a device that you have bought cannot be illegal in any way (as far as that something isn’t illegal). And I guess this describes it all. But I would explain it any way (@yordan )

 

So basically when you pay for something, it becomes your property. And you can do whatever you want with your property (obviously as long as it doesn’t affect others). So whether I hammer my printer, extract every single component of it, or even flash custom software to it, this is completely my personal business with my personal property. Nobody has got to do anything with it. The most that can happen is that manufacturer’s warranty would be void and I won’t be able to claim it. So I have a strong opinion that flashing a custom firmware isn’t illegal.

 

But this brings us to the second question: “Is the piece of software you are flashing Legal itself?”. And most likely the answer would be “NO”. This is because most expert people who create these custom firmwares, don’t create them from scratch. They modify the Manufacturer’s software as per their needs. Now my understanding is that most companies have made it clear that the software part is the manufacturer’s property. But there’s also this idea that when I buy a printer , I pay for both the hardware and software. So as long as I keep it to myself, there may be a chance that playing around with the software part of the device isn’t illegal. But when you modify it and distribute it, this is certainly illegal.

 

So I flashed (legal part) a custom firmware (most likely illegal). Am I OK with the law ??

 

And there’s also a selfish thinking coming into my mind right now. Like, I have used a software created by someone who has willingly made it public and described no limitations on how this should be used. So basically I am free to use it in whatever way I want. And I shouldn’t be responsible for how the software itself was created, because I didn’t create it. I just used a publically available piece of software on my personal property…

 

How much correct or incorrect I am with my presumption ???