patents

Stratasys Sues Afinia: Ramifications for the Desktop 3D Printing Industry

Earlier this week Stratasys, a longtime fixture in the commercial/industrial 3D printing world and recent purchaser of desktop printer company Makerbot, announced that it was filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Microboards Technology, LLC, the company behind the Afinia H-Series 3D printer. This lawsuit is a big deal that could have huge ramifications for the entire desktop 3D printing industry. Afinia is a well known 3D printing brand which was named “best overall experience” in MAKE’s inaugural 3D printing buyer’s guide last year. It is also widely available from mainstream outlets such as Radio Shack

Continue Reading November 27th, 2013 Mweinbergpk77

Make: Inventions “The Safety Elevator”

In this Make: Inventions, Steve builds an elevator and reenacts the death-defying stunt that Elisha Otis performed at the 1854 World’s Fair.

Continue Reading September 12th, 2013February 28th, 2016 Steve Hoefer1

Make: Inventions “Etch A Sketch”

In his first episode of Make: Inventions, Steve Hoefer takes a look at the Etch A Sketch, the enduring kids toy invented by Andre Cassagnes

Continue Reading May 9th, 2013February 27th, 2016 Stett Holbrook22

First to File? Nah, First to Blog!

Like most people out there, I sometimes have more ideas than time to implement them. So instead of keeping those ideas locked in a notebook somewhere unaccessible and not serving a purpose, I’m going to release them into the world as public domain in the hope that they might inspire, or at a very minimum keep an idea from being patented. You can do whatever you like with these, except for attempting to patent them yourself. It is my sincere hope that by releasing these ideas, more awesomeness and excellence will be brought into being.

Continue Reading May 2nd, 2013 Eric Weinhoffer20

3D Systems Suing Formlabs and Kickstarter for Patent Infringement

3D Systems, makers of the Cube, a $1,299 hobbyist-level 3D printer, along with considerably more expensive industrial-level 3D printers, has filed what may be the first patent lawsuit in the hobbyist 3D printer market.

Continue Reading November 21st, 2012 Rob Giseburt47

Screw-in coffin patent issues

This is a choice selection of images from the application for U.S. patent 7,631,404, which has since issued to Donald Scruggs of Chino, CA. The title is “Easy inter burial container.” [via Neatorama]

Continue Reading February 9th, 2010 Sean Michael Ragan26

Google files patent on Streetview billboard ad replacer

Google has just filed a patent application for a method to automagically detect billboards in Streetview-type imagery and replace them in real time with Google’s own dynamically-generated ads. It’s just a patent application at this point, so there’s no way of knowing if it’s actually going to happen yet. Still, an interesting idea. [via Gizmodo]

Continue Reading January 13th, 2010 Sean Michael Ragan12