Kevin Purdy – Aug 12, 2024 5:59 pm UTC
A patent lawsuit initiated by a leading company in the 3D printing industry against a newer, consumer-oriented competitor could significantly influence the broader 3D printing landscape.
In two complaints, (1, 2, PDF) lodged in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, Stratasys has accused Bambu Lab of infringing on 10 of its patents, including those obtained through acquisitions like Makerbot (acquired in 2013). The contested patents involve technologies like US9421713B2, a method for 3D printing using purge towers, and US9592660B2, related to heated build platforms for printing.
Heated build platforms are a standard feature in consumer 3D printers to prevent the initial layers of a print from cooling, shrinking, and warping. Purge towers (or “prime towers” as referred to by Bambu) facilitate multicolor printing by providing a place to extract leftover filament from a nozzle to avoid mixing colors. Stratasys is also targeting core technologies related to force detection and fused deposition modeling (FDM), which are employed by several companies producing consumer and mid-level 3D printers.
Bambu Lab emerged in the 3D printing industry in 2022, swiftly gaining a foothold particularly among entry-level users and enthusiasts, attributed to its quick multicolor printing capabilities. However, its journey has not been without hurdles, facing issues such as a major glitch in cloud-based printing in summer 2023 and the recall of its popular A1 model due to overheating problems earlier the same year.
Contrastingly, Stratasys has been a known entity in the 3D printing realm since 1988, predominantly serving manufacturing and commercial prototyping sectors. Its technology was crucial when General Motors shifted to producing face shields and ventilators amid the COVID-19 crisis. The acquisition of MakerBot resulted in workforce reductions two years later and ultimately a merger which led to the spin-off with Ultimaker, though Stratasys retained the patents of MakerBot.
In another legal confrontation, a larger prototyping company sued a smaller semi-competitor in 2014. 3D Systems had previously taken legal action against Formlabs in 2012 concerning patents related to laser-based stereolithography, culminating in Formlabs agreeing to an 8 percent sales royalty payable to 3D Systems. Stratasys had also initiated a lawsuit against Afinia in 2013, although that lawsuit eventually fizzled out.
Listing image by Bambu Lab