Earlier this year, Stratasys filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Bambu Lab, the industry-leading manufacturer of desktop FDM 3D printers. “Anyone selling FDM printers with features that come close to those claimed in Stratasys’ patents will be looking very closely at this case,” says OSHWA’s Michael Weinberg.
Bambu’s products allegedly infringe on ten of Stratasys’ 3D printing patents. Stratasys is seeking damages, legal fees, and an injunction to prevent the Shenzhen-based company from selling 3D printers in the future.
The lawsuits caused a stir in the 3D printing industry. Strong opposition has come from leading open-source advocates, who have now shared their insights with 3D Printing Industry.
The 3D printing experts include RepRap founder Dr. Adrian Bowyer, Dr. Joshua Pearce, an academic engineer at Western University, and Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) board member Michael Weinberg. Patent litigators Alan Laquer (from Knobbe Martens) and Andrew Spitzer (from Crowell & Moring) also shared their expert perspectives on the lawsuits.
They identified the motivations behind the allegations, assessed how a Stratasys victory could affect other 3D printer manufacturers, and discussed the potential impacts on the future of open-source 3D printing.
Pearce worries that the case could lead to the weaponization of intellectual property (IP) by 3D printing OEMs. “If that happens no one is going to win,” he stated. “It will certainly slow innovation and increase costs for consumers without achieving any new innovation.”
Spitzer believes that upholding Stratasys’ patents could cause a “seismic shift in the 3D printing landscape,” with the company potentially becoming a “gatekeeper to the 3D printing industry”
However, opposition to Stratasys is not unanimous. Some figures, including Prusa Research’s CEO Josef Prusa, call the lawsuits a justified response to Bambu Lab’s own patenting activities. They point to the company’s “unhealthy patent output” which allegedly targets widespread technologies and community inventions.
Stratasys and Bambu Lab have been contacted for comment.
The Stratasys vs Bambu Lab patent battle
Stratasys’ allegations concern Bambu Lab’s X1C, X1E, P1S, P1P, A1, and A1 mini 3D printers. The patents relate to common 3D printer processes and features, including purge towers, heating build platforms, tool head force detection, and networking capabilities.
These features are found in most desktop FDM/FFF 3D printers currently on the market, posing questions about how this will impact other manufacturers. OSHWA’s Weinberg believes that some OEMs may remove designs similar to the patents to avoid future litigation. Spitzer cautioned that the fundamental patent claims should be “watched closely by the industry,” with much of this IP being “standard on even low-end 3D printers for years.”
According to Laquer, a Stratasys victory would not automatically invalidate the patents of other 3D printer manufacturers, who can also plead their case in court. However, patents that are “battle-tested” in litigation are generally viewed as more powerful tools in disputes. On the other hand, he outlined that success in challenging Stratasys’s patents would mean “Stratasys couldn’t use those patents against anyone else.”
Additionally, a trial could prove valuable by providing the industry with otherwise unknown technical design details about the patents. “Even if a defendant is found to infringe, information could come out showing that there are alternative ways to design a product that might avoid the patent,” Laquer added.
Why has Stratasys sued Bambu Lab?
Stratasys’ lawsuits coincide with Bambu Lab’s rapid growth in the desktop FDM 3D printer market.
The Chinese company is increasingly cannibalizing the sales of more industrial OEMs, including Stratasys, as users seek more affordable production systems. Bambu Lab’s 3D printers offer features similar to those of many industrial FDM offerings at a fraction of the price.
According to market intelligence firm CONTEXT, entry-level 3D printer shipments increased by 35% in Q4 2023 and 26% in Q1 2024. Midrange and professional models, such as those made by Stratasys, fell by 7% and 34% in Q1, respectively. Bambu Lab posted a 3000% increase in 3D printer shipments last year.
Filing the lawsuits amid this 3D printer market shift has created speculation about the motivations behind the litigation. Officially, Stratasys is seeking a jury trial to achieve multiple forms of relief. These include a declaration that Bambu Lab has infringed on its patents, damages for the alleged infringements, and a permanent injunction preventing Bambu from selling the 3D printers in question.
Such remediation would require a clear victory in the courtroom, a lengthy process. Patent litigations frequently span five to ten years, with plaintiffs and defendants often spending millions on lawyer fees.
Some commentators suggest that Stratasys could be looking for a settlement with Bambu. Here, the latter may either agree to pay a licensing fee to continue selling its products or sell its 3D printers in a different guise to avoid the alleged infringements.
Laquer argued that the chances of the case going to trial are slim. He noted that less than 3% of the over 2,200 patent cases overseen by Judge Gilstrap (presiding over the lawsuits) in the last five years went to trial. This is reportedly “typical for patent cases.”
According to Laquer, plaintiffs and defendants usually iteratively reevaluate their odds as the case progresses. They then “settle based on their perceived strengths, weaknesses, uncertainties, and costs.”
This is not the first time the 3D printer OEM has pursued a lawsuit of this kind. In 2013, Stratasys sued Afinia, a desktop 3D printer brand of Microboards Technology, LLC, over alleged patent infringements, including those related to heated build platforms.
The companies settled in 2015, with Stratays’ patents being upheld in court. Afinia agreed to make adjustments to its 3D printers but soon faded out of the industry, indicating the detrimental impact the suit had on the company.
“Nonsense upon stilts” open-source opposition to Stratasys’ lawsuits
In the open-source community and beyond, patents are viewed as a persistent roadblock to technological advancement.
“3D printing innovation was held up for 20 years because of the original Stratasys patents,” explained Pearce. Once these expired, the RepRap community achieved an “explosion of innovation,” which radically reduced costs, while vastly improving quality. “It is hard to see how patent lawsuits even pretend to be good for the public interest,” he added. Instead, Pearce believes money would be better spent on expanding or rewarding engineering teams to create “better 3D printers from both companies.”
This perspective is echoed by Bowyer, who calls the idea of intellectual property (including patents) “nonsense upon stilts.” He stated, “Patents inhibit creativity and stifle innovation,” with lawsuits taking income from companies and putting it into the pockets of lawyers.
Bowyer also argues that many of the patents in the lawsuit are invalidated by prior art created by the RepRap community. For example, the Stratasys heated bed patent (US-9592660-B2) is dated to December 2014; Bowyer argues that the idea of heated beds was published in a 2010 RepRap blog. Additionally, purge towers were patented by Stratasys in March 2013 (US-9421713-B2), yet appeared on RepRap one year earlier.
Weinberg doesn’t yet know the extent to which the patents are invalidated by prior art, with Bambu Lab likely to evaluate what types of prior art exist if it fights the lawsuit. “I hope they find a way to engage with RepRap and other open-source communities in that process,” he stated.
Conversely, some argue that Stratasys’ lawsuit is a positive move for the 3D printing industry. In a statement on X, Prusa argued that Bambu Lab is leading a damaging “3DP patent race.”
The Prusa Research founder pointed to thousands of patents approved in China each year “without much scrutiny,” most of which are “inspired by the community inventions but basically impossible to fight.” Prusa likens Stratasys to a “nice neighbor you want to grill with,” while companies like Bambu are taking the 3D printing industry “back to the dark ages like before the FDM patent expiration.”
Pearce also acknowledges this threat, calling Bambu Lab a “patent parasite” attempting to claim “many well-known innovations.” He characterizes Stratasys as a “bigger older patent parasite” suing a “newer patent parasite” that threatens its technology.
Spitzer argues that Bamb Lab’s closed ecosystem ethos impacts the perception of the lawsuits. The company has adopted what it calls the ‘Apple approach.’ Bambu’s replacement parts are all proprietary and its 3D printers utilize proprietary software, explained Spitzer. This has received mixed reviews in the user community, drawing criticism from open-source circles.
Spitzer believes that Stratasys may have targeted Bambu Lab without naming other open-source companies, which also arguably infringe on its patents, to “avoid the ire of the entire 3D printing industry.”
Take 10 seconds to tell us the impact of this news using the block below. Make sure you click submit!
How will Stratasys’ lawsuits impact the future of 3D printing?
Do Stratasys’ patent lawsuits pose an existential threat to the FDM 3D printing market? While only time will tell the true impact of the ongoing litigation, there is concern within the open-source community.
According to Pearce, no one in additive manufacturing will win in the event of a Stratasys victory. He calls IP a disease that will “spread to the entire industry,” making it more difficult for people to collaborate on new technology.
Weinberg argues that a win for Stratasys would create problems for the future of those operating in the 3D printing space. However, a Stratasys loss could be a “win for everyone else” by removing the ambiguity surrounding 3D printer patents.
Spitzer suggests that the lasting impact of the lawsuits will largely depend on the terms of the settlement. One-time or royalty payments could be passed on to customers through higher prices, potentially stunting Bambu’s rapid market growth. However, he believes the odds of an injunction preventing the company from selling products are slim.
Bowyer argues Stratasys and Bambu Lab are as bad as each other due to their respective “patent parasite behavior.” He hopes both companies will identify the prior art undermining their opponents’ position. “Airing a lot of that in public documents and, possibly, in court would go some way to solidifying all that prior art.”
Ultimately, the RepRap founder noted that open-source 3D printers are easy and cheap to make, with few barriers preventing the community from doing this.
“Big dinosaur patent holders are therefore continually presented with a Whac-A-Mole problem,” he explained. “New, nimble mammals are forever popping up and dodging their lumbering, reptilian grasp.”
Want to help select the winners of the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards? Nominate now!
What does the future of 3D printing hold?
What near-term 3D printing trends have been highlighted by industry experts?
Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to keep up to date with the latest 3D printing news.
You can also follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page, and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry Youtube channel to access more exclusive content.
Featured image shows a Stratasys Fortus 450mc (left) and a Bambu Lab X1C (right). Image by 3D Printing industry.
