Is 3D printer company Bambu Lab trying to patent everything about 3D printing?

Today there were several threads on different social media platforms related to the number of patents filed by Bambu Lab, covering many aspects of 3d printing already existing and the subject of open source work

This is from the prusa blog. RepRap started out originally as open source.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.prusa3d.com&#x2F;the-state-of-open-source-in-3d-printing-in-2023_76659&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.prusa3d.com&#x2F;the-state-of-open-source-in-3d-prin...</a><p>It&#x27;s worth noting that in 2022, Prusa had 0 patents assigned to them.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fabbaloo.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;which-3d-print-company-has-the-most-patents" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fabbaloo.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;which-3d-print-company-has-the...</a>

I looked through the list and only one of the patents is granted outside China (and, at a glance, appears to be novel): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;patents.google.com&#x2F;patent&#x2F;CN113246473A&#x2F;en" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;patents.google.com&#x2F;patent&#x2F;CN113246473A&#x2F;en</a><p>P.S. I have no idea what patent practices are like in China.

No surprises really. Bambu was clearly a commercial&#x2F;proprietary enterprise. A lot of their employees come from DJI, which is equally locked down. The only reason they released their slicer software is because of the GPL (hey, it works!).

Maybe we should propose legislation for an IP black hole list. If too many of a company&#x27;s patents are invalidated, the company loses the ability to create or hold patents.

Those are still pending and probably won&#x27;t go through. That stuff is old tech and considered state of the art. It&#x27;s like you&#x27;re trying to patent the wheel.