The Patents That Threaten 3-D Printing

An anonymous reader writes "We've watched patents slow down the smartphone and tablet markets. We've seen patent claims thrown against Linux, Android, and countless other software projects. Now, as 3-D printing becomes more capable and more affordable, it seems a number of patents threaten to do the same to the hobbyist and tinkerer crowd. Wired has highlighted some of the most dangerous ones, including: a patent on soluble print materials that support a structure while it's being printed; a ridiculously broad patent on distributed rapid prototyping, which could affect "every 3-D printing service that has launched in the past few years"; and an 18-year-old patent on 3-D printing using a powder and a binding material, held by MIT."

[](http://twitter.com/home?status=The+Patents+That+Threaten+3-D+Printing%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FW38BDd) [](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F13%2F02%2F20%2F0317250%2Fthe-patents-that-threaten-3-d-printing%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook) [](http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/02/20/0317250/the-patents-that-threaten-3-d-printing?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=googleplus)

[Read more of this story](http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/02/20/0317250/the-patents-that-threaten-3-d-printing?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.


[](http://da.feedsportal.com/r/158873060514/u/49/f/647410/c/35028/s/28c242a5/a2.htm)

URL: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/szuySrUDgHQ/story01.htm