1 Topic by Rincewind (edited by Rincewind 2013-11-29 22:00:28)

  • Rincewind
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Topic: Stratasys vs Afinia patent lawsuit - the end of hobbyist 3D printing?

I'm surprised that I couldn't find any discussion on this topic in this forum, as it's quite hot at the moment. If I missed it, and it already being discussed, I apologize and please point me in the right direction smile

Stratasys (big player in 3D printing and also recent owner of Makerbot) sued Afinia over infringement of 3 patents (One link on the matter).

The patents are basically about:

  • Making parts with variable infill

  • Using a heated bed

  • Some other strange thing with connecting layers

Please read the linked article, it is pretty interesting. But I think that if this lawsuit goes through, it will have negative repercussions on the whole hobbyist 3D printer market (including Solidoodle), as these technologies are basically shared by all Fused Filament Fabrication printers.

Any comments on the matter?

2 Reply by IronMan

  • IronMan
  • IronMan
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Re: Stratasys vs Afinia patent lawsuit - the end of hobbyist 3D printing?

Very good article!  Well written and with great links to the Patents.

The patents covering the extruder and the overlapping change-layer technique are not an issue as I see it.  The 2 remaining patents are strong but can be worked around.  Also, those two particular patents expire in 2015 and 2017.

Worth keeping an eye on how this pans out...

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