Formlabs In Settlement Talks Over 3D Printing Patent Lawsuit 57
curtwoodward writes "Formlabs raised nearly $3 million in a month for its new Form 1 3D printer, which uses stereolithography to make precise models and other physical objects out of photoreactive liquid polymer. But 3D Systems — the publicly traded company founded by the guy who invented that process — sued the startup for patent infringement. Formlabs recently announced that it would start shipping its pre-ordered Form 1 printers, and that was no coincidence: the two companies quietly entered into settlement talks in early May, and hope to have a deal done by September."
Re:in a word: screwed. (Score:5, Informative)
The basic patents have already expired. The main patent 3D Systems sued over is effectively a software patent on a detail that improves printing quality of some objects. The Formlabs hardware has many non-infringing uses, so there was no justification on preventing its shipment based on that patent. In addition, 3D Systems had no way of knowing whether the Formlabs software would be infringing it (there are workarounds that can be used to achieve the same effect in a different way). The whole lawsuit looks like they were simply trying to make a nuisance of themselves to hinder the launch of the Formlabs printer.
(As for the later patents by 3D Systems, they look pretty crappy to me.)