3 ms·
Patent terms for printers would be at most 20 years. Perfectly good laser printers existed >20 years ago. You can tear down an old printer and make a clone of a
by pbhjpbhj 4y ago
Patent terms for printers would be at most 20 years. Perfectly good laser printers existed >20 years ago. You can tear down an old printer and make a clone of all functional and non-artistic aspects without infringing IP. In theory, patent specifications should provide a manual to help make any once-patented aspects of the device.
Indeed, that's the goal, in part, of the patent system to make technologies available in return for a time-limited monopoly.
- otherme123 4y agoLiterally, what happened to 3D printers: a zombie/niche sector until the FDM patents expired in 2009.