You Have Got To Freakin' Be Kidding Me: A Printer Catridge Rant

We are the owners of a Lexmark Z2320 printer. It's the second printer we've purchased in two years. (We got one just before the compacting year and soon after - by complete chance.) These things break way too easily, and of course they can't be repaired. But that's not the worst of it.
Tonight while trying to print, the black cartridge stopped working. Notice I didn't say the ink ran out? No, I have a perfectly serviceable ink refill kit that cost about $25 and has seen the reigns of THREE printers! Yes, 3. So, I was able to refill the cartridge with fresh black ink, but it wouldn't print.
Do you want to know why?
Apparently this and other Lexmark cartridges are equipped with chips that allow a certain amount of printing (pages?, passes of the cartridge over the paper?, who knows!) and when the clock strikes midnight, the cartridges turn back into a pumpkins.
This is taking programmed senescence a bit too far.
So you want to buy a piece of junk car for half the price of a good one? You might just be able to get 200,000 miles out of it if you treat it just so. Can you imagine the outrage from car owners if suddenly they found themselves with cars that shut off at 99,999 miles never to run again because the darned things had a chips that only allowed them to run that far?
But, if you buy a Lexmark printer cartridge, no matter how gently you use the thing, you are only allowed a certain mileage.
Here is information on a case brought against cartridge remanufacturers.
Fortunately, you can buy refillable cartidges compatible with Lexmark printers, and the next time I need a new one, I'll be ordering it online rather than buying the brand-name one from the office supply store. What a crock!