As the 3D printing industry grows, so do the lawsuits. I may be missing a few, but, so far, here are the lawsuits occurring in the industry: Stratasys v Afinia, Shareholders v Stratasys, Shareholders v 3D Systems, and Rokit v Moment. Memjet v HP has been deemed by legal professionals as not very 3D printing related and 3D Systems v Formlabs has been resolved. To fill the lawsuit void is Beijing Tiertime, the manufacturers of the popular UP! series of 3D printers, who are now suing uCRobotics, a Chinese distributor of MakerBot 3D printers.
Beijing Tiertime announced today that it has filed two patent infringement lawsuits with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court against uCRobotics, claiming that the Chinese company’s distribution, sale, promotion, and importation of MakerBot Replicator 3D printers infringe on two Tiertime patents. In turn, the company is seeking an injunction against uCRobotics and damages for economic loss and legal costs.
CEO of Tiertime, Alan Guo, commented, “As a 3D printer developer and manufacturer with specialized and advanced technologies, we pay close attention to the protection of intellectual property rights and take a firm stand against IP infringements and other unfair competition activities. The lawsuit against UCRobotics is brought for the purpose of protecting Tiertime’s legitimate interests and the fair competition in the 3D market.”
The suit seems to parallel Stratasys’ own lawsuit against Afinia in the States, with Stratasys taking on Tiertime’s US distributor and, now, Tiertime fighting back by suing Stratasys’ Chinese distributor. In Stratasys v Afinia, the implications are huge, as the Goliath, in this case, had chosen one of a, now, countless number of extrusion 3D printer companies to sue for infringing on its FDM 3D printing technology. If they win against Afinia, a dangerous precedent is set that would allow Stratasys to monopolize the market and shut down the huge number of extrusion 3D printers in the US. This new suit, perhaps, gives Tiertime some leverage in China with the implication being that, if Stratasys wants to bring MakerBot to a 1-billion-strong market in Asia, it will have to drop its US lawsuit. For the sake of all of the companies, big and small, using extrusion technology to produce 3D printed prosthetics, artwork, and more, I hope this maneuver works.
