Stratasys sues Bambu Lab over patents used widely by consumer 3D printers

Article note: Stratasys trollin' again, in the preferred jurisdiction of patent trolls. They've held back the FDM field for like two decades already (most recently with their heated build chamber bullshit), now they're coming around to try again... With patents dated years after community projects and even commercial hobbyist level printers were publicly doing the things the claim. Bambu aren't exactly "The good guys" since they've commercialized a bunch community work without credit or giving back (and filed patents for them in China), but at least they're chiefly engaged in shipping products to users.

Enlarge / The Bambu Lab A1, complete with heated build platform. (credit: Bambu Lab)

A patent lawsuit filed by one of 3D printing's most established firms against a consumer-focused upstart could have a big impact on the wider 3D-printing scene.

In two complaints, (1, 2, PDF) filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, against six entities related to Bambu Lab, Stratasys alleges that Bambu Lab infringed upon 10 patents that it owns, some through subsidiaries like Makerbot (acquired in 2013). Among the patents cited are US9421713B2, "Additive manufacturing method for printing three-dimensional parts with purge towers," and US9592660B2, "Heated build platform and system for three-dimensional printing methods."

There are not many, if any, 3D printers sold to consumers that do not have a heated bed, which prevents the first layers of a model from cooling during printing and potentially shrinking and warping the model. "Purge towers" (or "prime towers" in Bambu's parlance) allow for multicolor printing by providing a place for the filament remaining in a nozzle to be extracted and prevent bleed-over between colors. Stratasys' infringement claims also target some fundamental technologies around force detection and fused deposition modeling (FDM) that, like purge towers, are used by other 3D-printer makers that target entry-level and intermediate 3D-printing enthusiasts.