Open-Source printer anyone?
At the root of this issue is the chip in the toner cartridge, or in most of the other printer consumables. Regardless of the merrit of such a device and the marketing gulag it creates, if the device is legally patented, the protocol patented, and the user license constrains the use to legal replacements, anyone infringing on the patents or circumventing the license is comitting a crime.
Npw don't hit me! I'm stating the legal obvious. If you don't want to pay platinum prices for little bottles of food coloring with a fancy anti-piracy chip, don't buy a printer that has this restriction.
Unfortunately, I believe, all major manufacturers incorporate some sort of anti-refill technology, or make their cartridges literally only useful for one cycle. Unless you want to get out an old dot-matrix, line printer or teletype, you're pretty much hosed.
The "correct" response is to follow the lead of the open source hardware community (already making unencumbered boot roms and other bits to prevent vendor lock-out of open source software in the future). Using public domain technology, an "open source" printer device needs to be developed and offered either as a kit or assembled unit. This would eliminate the problems associated with "bugged" ink or toner cartridges and bypass the license issues that would surround a "remanufactured" printer that has the lock-out chip removed.
Sure, the "open source" printer would cost more, but a decent design for the print mechanism (has the original Xerox patent expired yet?) would permit using any good quality ink or toner, offsetting the initial higher hardware cost. Especially for business where the cost of expendables far outstrips the hardware cost in short order.
Of course, we'll then see Canon, Lexmark, HP, etc. buy up the paper mills and incorporate a shrink-wrap license on all paper...oh, wait: paper IS in the publice domain...