I am not sure if open source 3D printing can remain. Not because of my choice, it was amazing to don't have to bother with IP and just create stuff, especially when someone else took our stuff, improved it and shared back 🧡 First, there is not much of us, 3DP manufacturers, left in the west. And secondly, few years ago, a massive 3DP patent race started in China. Basically everything is approved without much scrutiny over there and they get international priority. It is thousands of patents yearly. Many things inspired by the community inventions but basically impossible to fight. Just a translation you can count on costs 1000€+ per patent and good luck striking the patent in China anyway. Couple that with gov subsidies and it gets you where we are now. Coverage of the lawsuit we had so far is horrible, comparing the patent portfolios for real, Stratasys looks like your nice neighbor you want to grill with, while BBL and others are silently setting up patent portfolios soo broad, we, the 3dp community, will be lucky if we can fart, silently, in a few years 😅 And there is not much hope too, no media have resources to investigate this properly and cover it ...

The engineer’s aesthetic. CMF Phone 1 celebrates technical craftsmanship with its uniquely adaptable nature. Customisable. Functional. Yours. Learn everything at the next Nothing Community Update on 8 July 2024, 10:00 BST.