• JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    US9421713B2 - Additive manufacturing method for printing three-dimensional parts with purge towers

    US9592660B2 - Heated build platform and system for three-dimensional printing methods

    US7555357B2 - Method for building three-dimensional objects with extrusion-based layered deposition systems

    US9168698B2 - Three-dimensional printer with force detection

    US10556381B2 - Three-dimensional printer with force detection

    That’s like all of 3d printing, that’s pretty scary. If they win on all 5, seems like it’d kill consumer 3d printing entirely.

    • Schmeckinger@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      When I look at these patents all of them seem to be patenting others inventions from years ago. So I hope prior art wins.

    • Thunderbird4@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Eastern District of Texas is extremely favorable to patent trolls. It’s not a coincidence that they filed the suit there.

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 months ago

    Patent trolls doing patent troll things. Stratasys no longer provides usable value to the enterprise market and they’re stagnating bad, their only hope is to start suppressing competition through overly broad, unrefined patents obviously tailored to provide a blanket market lockout.

    They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again. Fuck Stratasys, uncompetitive monopolistic fucks.

  • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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    5 months ago

    Lmao, as an idiot trying to get a 20y/o stratysys running at work, I can see why they’re trying to sue.

    Their machines are trash and wildly outdated, DRM spools locked into cases and disposable beds are GARBAGE.

    Turns out they spent a lot of time developing the ‘cutting edge’ FDM tech from 30 years ago and can’t quite keep up with their coreXY counterparts.

      • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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        5 months ago

        The print beds are SINGLE USE injection molded ABS(I think it’s ABS, anyhow).

        They snap over the heating element and seem to be a gigantic waste of resources. You can tell R&D was pushed to make their machines as profitable as possible by avoiding reusable parts.

        You can’t refill their spool cassettes either without some RFID hacking.

        It’s fuckin’ bogus.

    • apemint@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      We have 3 Stratasys printers at work and yeah, you’re absolutely correct.

      To add, their ‘professional’ slicer program “Insight” is the most user hostile piece of software I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Straight out of 1992 levels of awful. The workflow, the UI (if you can call it that), everything.

      The other ‘user friendly’ slicer is “GrabCAD Print”, an Apple style piece of garbage. It lacks everything beyond basic functionality, yet lately they’ve been pumping it full of subscription locked features.

      Honestly, fuck this company.

  • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Good news is, you will never be able to stop hobbyist 3d printing.

    Sorry patent trolls, you can’t make aluminum extrusion, stepper motors, an extruder, and a short circuit illegal.

    • SpaceMan9000@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      The problem is that most people aren’t making RepRap printers from scratch, they’re buying kits which has everything included.

      Bambu makes decent gear, I don’t think we want to have the only option being Chinese machines which always makes compromises to make it cheaper. And that’s coming from a person who uses Chinese printers.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I don’t think we want to have the only option being Chinese machines

        When you shut everyone else down, they’re the only guys left with the freedom to do business.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Almost not surprising. Inventors and R&D businesses patent things all the time, then it takes a while to claim them. There was a guy in Australia who apparently invented WiFi (he calls it “wiffey”) and he successfully asserted his patent against WiFi manufacturers worldwide such that they paid him a couple pennies in royalties for every chip manufactured.

      The saving grace is that patents only last for 20 years. After that, anyone can use the design, like Gillette’s double edged safety razor (which is why their modern razors are so silly and change every few years).