3D printer maker Bambu Lab faces patent infringement lawsuits that could threaten hobbyist 3D printing in general

Bambu Lab, one of the fastest-growing manufacturers of consumer-grade 3D printers , is facing two patent infringement lawsuits in the U.S. Stratasys, a leading name in industrial 3D printing technology since 1988, filed the lawsuits on Aug. 8 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.

Both lawsuits accuse Bambu Lab of infringing on patents held by Stratasys. Stratasys names six companies associated with the umbrella Bambu Lab name, demanding a jury trial for the cases. If Stratasys is able to defend the patents in question successfully, it could lead to a major disruption to the consumer 3D printing industry.

In total, the two lawsuits (Civil Action No. 2:24-cv-644 and Civil Action No. 2:24-cv-00645) concern 10 patents Stratasys owns. Two of the patents were originally owned by MakerBot, but Stratasys acquired all of that company’s assets in 2013. It later merged the subsidiary with Utilimaker in 2022, but retained ownership of the patents.

The first lawsuit, cv-644 (PDF), alleges Bambu Lab has infringed upon the following patents:

1. US9421713B2 - Additive manufacturing method for printing three-dimensional parts with purge towers
2. US9592660B2 - Heated build platform and system for three-dimensional printing methods
3. US7555357B2 - Method for building three-dimensional objects with extrusion-based layered deposition systems
4. US9168698B2 - Three-dimensional printer with force detection
5. US10556381B2 - Three-dimensional printer with force detection

All of these patents, if Stratasys wins the case, could prove highly disruptive for the consumer 3D printing industry. Two of them are of particular interest, however. Patent number 1 listed above refers to purge towers used by Stratasys, Bambu Lab, and others when automatically changing from one filament to another during a print.

Bambu Lab in particular uses this to allow easy multicolor 3D printing ; the printer stops mid-print, retracts the filament currently in use, and then feeds the next needed filament to continue the build. To prevent the previously used filament from bleeding into the new, the printer lays out a purge tower before continuing the build.

Of broader impact to just about any consumer-priced 3D printer is patent number 2 listed above, the heated build platform. For the 3D printer to successfully print a model, the build plate is almost always heated to ensure the first layers remain in place.

To be frank, I’m not aware of a single 3D printer in production today that doesn’t incorporate a heated build surface. Yes, there are other ways of ensuring bed adhesion, but those inevitably threaten the integrity of the model when you try removing it from the build plate.

The other three patents cited refer to methods of forming the three-dimensional object and using sensors to calibrate the extruder for accurate operation.

In the second lawsuit, cv-645 (PDF), Stratasys accuses Bambu Lab of infringing on five additional patents. These are generally more matters of convenience, concerning wireless communication with the 3D printer and using RFID tags to help the 3D printer know what filament is installed.

1. US10569466B2 - Tagged build material for three-dimensional printing
2. US11167464B2 - Same as above
3. US8747097B2 - Networked three-dimensional printer with three-dimensional scanner
4. US11886774B2 - Detection and use of printer configuration information
5. US8562324B2 - Networked three-dimensional printing.

The lawsuits were only recently filed, and Bambu Lab says it has yet to receive official documents from the court concerning the case. Tom’s Hardware has reached out to Bambu Lab for further comment and will update you with any response received.