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I doubt it.

Back in the grand old days, with the NES and later SNES Nintendo introduced the "loss-leader" concept to the video game market, where the game system was relatively inexpensive and the games were the real profit bringers. This practice carried over to the other console manufacturers like Sega and later Sony. In fact, from what I remember only the Neo Geo was priced for a profit on the console itself, and it was damn near unaffordable at ~$600. They didn't sue Nintendo, Sega or Sony for selling loss-leader hardware from what I recall.

That's not to say it won't happen here, but again I doubt it. It's been in practice for nearly 30 years now in the tech field (not to mention the razor blade manufacturers as you mentioned) and I don't see it being challenged by other companies in court.

That's not to say it won't be challenged in the field though. Brother laser printers, for example, use chipless "dumb" cartridges that seem to be designed to be refilled by the consumer; all you have to do is pull an easily accessible plug, fill with toner and replace the plug, and reset a gear on the side. A Philips screwdriver and five minutes of your time save a lot of money. That combined with the fact that their cartridges are also very inexpensive to begin with, and the printers themselves are great quality, and you have honest pro-consumer competition against the gouging tactics of HP, Lexmark and Samsung.

Edited 2011-10-04 03:39 UTC