HP Printer Warranty and how to overcome it?

Hi Have a HP 5100 bought in Sept 2003. I've printed about 50 pages on it. It was part of a lot of 4 I purchased for me and a few other people cos it got good reviews and was good value. It died in May of this year - claimed it needed ink even though the cartridges were still full - I bought a new cartridge - then it wouldnt take paper in properly (never printed a page from the moment the ink error came up). Informed HP of the error and their supported recommended manual reset involving turning rollers manually etc - still no dice.

It had a one year warranty, but I recall that under european law, all electronic devices of this nature should be expected to last two years minimum, and that if th eproblem is reported within this timeframe (it was) you have a strong case for replacement. Considering It has been totally underused rather tahn overused, has anyone any ideas on how I go about getting a replacemnt? Any idea on what law I can quote etc? It seems very poor to me that a printer would fail after 50 pages, regardless of time limited warranties...

It was purchased through e-buyer online, so reverting to the retailer is not an option.