Electronic Frontier Foundation Fighting Spurious 3D Printing Patent Claims

If there’s one news item I’m nearly as tired of seeing as all the political ads, it would be the ongoing patent battles between the various mobile device manufacturers (e.g. Apple, Google, Samsung). The patenting of concepts has gotten to a stage that seems somewhat ludicrous.

I can’t source it, but I heard someone say that if the original designer of the log cabin had been able to patent a “rectangular house made by stacking logs,” the pioneers would have been a sad lot. Much of the hobbyist 3D printing craze has been fueled by the expiration of the original patents, and more are set to expire shortly.

The danger for these modern mom and pop companies (or even companies like MakerBot) is that someone will attempt to “re-patent” an idea that should expire. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is set to battle any such attempts. From the EFF website:

“While many core patents restricting 3D printing have expired or will soon expire, there is a risk that ‘creative’ patent drafting will continue to lock up ideas beyond the 20-year terms of those initial patents or that patents will restrict further advances made by the open hardware community. The incremental nature of innovation in 3D printing makes it particularly unsuitable for patenting, as history has shown.”

It is a sad fact that the U.S. Patent Office doesn’t have nearly the resources it would need to police its own files. As a result, patents slip through the process that have no business being approved. The America Invents Act helps mitigate this problem by allowing anyone to contribute to the process by demonstrating a patent is bogus.

The EFF wants to go further, and is looking to fund a warchest ready to defeat spurious claims. Of course, a non-profit doesn’t exactly have cash to spare, so EFF is asking for donations.

Below you’ll find a video about patent reform under the America Invents Act.

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation