A Texas federal jury awarded Stratasys $27.6 million in damages after finding Bambu Lab willfully infringed four U.S. patents. The case was filed in August 2024 and reached verdict in September 2026 after a week-long trial. A second Stratasys patent case against Bambu Lab remains pending without a scheduled trial date.
9,168,698 / 10,556,381 - Force detection on the printhead, ie when your printer homes the z-axis by touching the nozzle against the build plate (would not include conductive or magnetic sensors)
9,421,713 - Using purge towers in prints with multiple filaments or extruders
7,555,357 - Not really sure exactly what this describes, so here is the patent’s abstract:
A method of forming a three-dimensional object using an extrusion-based layered deposition system, the method comprising generating a build path for building a layer of the three-dimensional object, where the build path defines a void region. The method further comprising generating at least one intermediate path in the void region, and generating a remnant path based at least in part on the at least one intermediate path.
Seems to include slicing objects that are not completely solid on the surface (ie a cube with a hole through the center).
So, with this precedent, Stratasys can go after… nearly every printer on the market. Cool
Looking it up from some different sources I could find the following listed as summaries of the patents:
Multi-axis motion systems
Heated bed management
Enclosed chamber thermal control
Filament flow monitoring
Error detection software
Those first two are basically every printer sold for the last 6 or 7 years? Seems weird they let Creality (and everyone else) do their thing for years without issue and just decided to go after Bambu. I am not a Bambu fan by any stretch, but still doesn’t seem to add up.
The article mentions four patents:
9,168,698 / 10,556,381 - Force detection on the printhead, ie when your printer homes the z-axis by touching the nozzle against the build plate (would not include conductive or magnetic sensors)
9,421,713 - Using purge towers in prints with multiple filaments or extruders
7,555,357 - Not really sure exactly what this describes, so here is the patent’s abstract:
Seems to include slicing objects that are not completely solid on the surface (ie a cube with a hole through the center).
So, with this precedent, Stratasys can go after… nearly every printer on the market. Cool
Looking it up from some different sources I could find the following listed as summaries of the patents:
Those first two are basically every printer sold for the last 6 or 7 years? Seems weird they let Creality (and everyone else) do their thing for years without issue and just decided to go after Bambu. I am not a Bambu fan by any stretch, but still doesn’t seem to add up.