Preparing for the future?

Christmas present for Flam3D members

Member company Poly Products came up with the idea to, via Flam3D, look for patents related to Additive Manufacturing that would expire in the coming years.

The potential of this is clear: with this knowledge companies can already prepare themselves for a future in which certain extensions or improvements will become freely accessible. Of course, it is better to start doing this well in advance rather than only when the patent in question has actually expired.

We don’t have the capacity to track down these patents ourselves, but the AOMB patent agency – which has already given a lecture at one of Flam3D’s member events – has plenty of experience in this area. After some research, the agency came up with a list of 120 European 3D printing-related patents* that will expire in the next 2 years.

Members of Flam3D can request this list at info@flam3D.org or kris.binon@flam3d.org. Would you like more information or a consultation on patents? Then contact Marco Coolen at AOMB.

We do not want to question the importance of patents. Patents of course protect the use of an invention, to the benefit of the inventor (or if applicable the licensee). We just want our members to have an extra edge!

* This list includes machine-related items as well as inventions related to materials, processes, medical applications, etc. Some of the results in the list seem irrelevant; we will try to clear these out in the coming days/weeks.