Shame the patent numbers were not included in the press release.

A comment below mentioned the patent being possibly related to creating support structures (additional 3D printing to support overhanging sections of a model), and a quick search on Google patents brought up these:

http://www.google.com/patents/US6558606

http://www.google.com/patents/US6797351

And from the looks of it, 3D System has quite the arsenal of patents at their disposal - see for yourself: http://www.google.com/?output=search&tbm=pts&sclient...

3D Systems has been buying up companies in the field for a while now (bitsfrombytes, botmill, Z corp and so on, more here: http://static.cdn-seekingalpha.com/uploads/2012/11/19/6383-1...)

They are bound to have a pretty big portfolio of 3D printing related patents. A case of 'join or be sued'? Strictly speaking, wouldn't even be against the law, would it?

How is Kickstarter at fault? Is it really within their scope of responsibilities to conduct due diligence with regard to IP before allowing someone to fundraise?

I hope this does not "kickstart" a new trend of bullying crowdfunding sites.

There are a number of clues that 3D Systems will be the Big Evil of the coming 3D printing decade. Cube is proprietary, their model store has almost no free content, and they are emulating the standard printer market in their cartridge pricing. All signs point to a mundane corporate mindset that is playing itself out here with a litigious reaction to competition.

Instead of wasting money on lawyers, why don't they focus their time and efforts on making great products? In a young space, such as printing, companies that behave like this usually go out business eventually.

Ok, I understand why they might sue Formlabs - it's a shame, but without knowing the details there's opportunity for patent infringement there. But Kickstarter? Seriously?

Annoyingly, this report doesn't say anything about which patents 3D Systems believes Formlabs is infringing. Thus, it's really difficult to figure out whether there's a legitimate claim here or just BS.

It's virtually impossible to judge the legitimacy of this case without looking at the claims of the patents they believe were infringed. I definitely don't think it's appropriate to assume that those patents are illegitimate. There's a role for patents and this is a field where R&D costs may warrant careful protection of the underlying technology.

One reason to raise capital (formally) is to deal with IP and lawyers, etc. This is potentially achilles heel for Kickstarter model.

I know the Form team. Good people. I hope this works out in their favor in the end.

Here are the various 3D-printing projects on KS:

  FORM 1: An affordable, professional 3D printer
  Raised: $2,945,885

  PrusAL modular opensource 3D printer
  Raised: $1,777

  Eventorbot! open source 3d printer
  Raised: $137,508

  Bukobot 3D Printer - Affordable 3D with No Compromises!
  Raised: $167,410

  HYREL 3D Printer
  Raised: $152,942

  The Vision : Not Just a 3D Printer... A DREAM
  Raised: $65,346

  Open Source Universal 3D Printer Extruder | DUAL EXTRUSION 
  Raised: $73,361

  --------------------------

http://www.3dsystems.com/personal-3d-printers

Imagine selling product in the $1,200 to $5,000 range and having a Kickstarter campaign suck well over three million dollars from the market. This is what is called a displacement market. For the most part people are not going to go out and purchase multiple hobby 3D printers simultaneously. They'll either buy one or the other, not two or more. This means that this is three million dollars of potential 3D Systems sales that simply evaporated from the horizon.

I can understand what that might feel like from their vantage point. I have not reviewed the patent or patents in question. Perhaps someone can post links to them. This means that I really can't have an opinion as to whether these are bullshit patents or real invention patents. Having read through hundreds of patents over the years it is my opinion that most patents --software or not-- are solidly in the category of bullshit patents.

My test is the distinction between implementation and true invention. The first is something that any individual or team of reasonably qualified engineers could execute on if asked to do so. Invention is where you ask a bunch of engineers to solve the problem and only one or two out of ten might do it and the rest are left scratching their heads. If we adopted some such definition as a validity test the world might just be a much nicer place for all.

I just don't know on this one yet. I do know that loosing three million dollars in business will make anyone angry enough to reach for legal recourse if they have it.

From what I understand they are infringing on a patent by 3D Systems which has something to do with pin head support structure. If this is the case they can easily update the software to use a different style of support and they would be in the clear... That's just speculation and I have no confirmation on if thats the case or not.

I am a little naive as to American legal process, but does Kickstarter enjoy any safe harbor provisions as a fund raising website? They are not the ones producing the 3D printer technology in question, only facilitating its funding. If they are being sued for such service, wouldn't that also make Amazon Payments culpable?

In some ways, this disgusts me. In other ways, I can undersand it's a necessity.

GODDAMMIT

Would be great to run another KS campaign to raise Millions to fight, countersue and beat to the punch 3DSystems. Ready?

undefined

What would happen if FormLabs released their blueprints/designs into the public domain?