sneaky bastards

I recently experienced a printer error message on my Canon IP1880 printer (IP1800 in some countries). The message says:

An ink cartridge is not installed properly. Open the printer's cover, make sure the ink cartridge is installed properly, and close the cover.

After googling the error message, I found out that most of the people who encountered this problem were refilling them and were able to fix them by buying new cartridges (which almost costs as much as the printer). Apparently (this is speculation), Canon has a way of determining if you are using refills and a way of preventing you from doing further. The technology behind it may be known only to few Canon employees developing the printer cartridge and/or driver. I wouldn't be surprised if this is true because it is a well known fact that although the quality of ink refills is inferior to originals, they are eating up a huge portion of the printing market. Millions, if not billions of Yen in sales are lost because of the emergence of Ink refilling companies.

What is sad for me though is that this "feature" of the printer is not made known to the consumers. Why was I not informed!?! For a guy like me who just wants low quality print outs, ink refills is a gift from heaven. Why is Canon preventing me from receiving them? hehe. Is there a law or ethical "rule" that says using ink refills is wrong. I know Canon is just protecting its business. But if I knew that the IP1880 had such capability, I would never fall for its stylish exterior.