14 DAY TRIAL // MakerBot was the top name in the 3D printing industry until it was bought by Stratasys, and it still is really since the brand isn't going anywhere any time soon. Now, though, the two, or Stratasys anyway, is doing something that could backfire severely.
One might say that it has already backfired, going by the reactions of many people on the Internet and beyond it.
You see, MakerBot – Stratasys are considered leaders, of a sort, in 3D printing, and no one would be shocked if they came up with some breakthroughs.
However, Stratasys patented something not long ago, and the filing is what drew the ire of the 3D printing community.
The patent defines an attachment to a 3D printer extruder called “force detector.” The force detector would “detect deflection forces and the like acting on the tool that might indicate an operating error.”
Independent 3D printing experts believe that the open-source community developed the concept first. Basically, they're accusing Stratasys/MakerBot of claiming the ideas of other people as their own.
And if the patent filing passes, the two would also become the “owners” of the technology and would get paid by everyone seeking to use the technique described therein. You can see how the problem arose on OpenBeam USA, or 3DPI.
According to RepRap expert and developer Terrence Tam, of OpenBeam, many have been experimenting with auto leveling technology, and the concept dates back to 2008.
The “force detector” isn't even the only patent called into question. Another application, for a “quick-release extruder” that “provides contact force to engage a filament with a drive gear has a movable axis that can be controllably moved toward and away from the drive gear in order to engage and disengage the filament.”
MakerBot Replicator 2 uses this with credit to the designers, but their patent would negate the Creative Commons license it was released under, and would allow Stratasys to sue anyone that uses a similar design or method to feed filament. It's vague enough.
In layman terms, Stratasys – Makerbot are being accused of trying to claim technologies and advancements as their own, when they are, in fact, not.
In the coming days we may see all .STL files taken down from online databases like Thingiverse and replaced with “Boycott MakerBot” images, or something along those lines. Since, apparently, Stratasys – MakerBot are patenting everything there. Or that's how the open-source community sees it.
Stratasys is already in a lawsuit with Afinia over the latter's use of fused filament fabrication. And the fact that MakerBot started as the darling of open-source companies, the situation is even less heartening.