H-bot gantry seems to be patented by Stratasys a few months ago

[Hrvoje Čop]

See this: http://www.faqs.org/.../20130078073_01

It seems that somehow, Stratasys managed to patent the H-Bot gantry. Although info on H-bots can be found on websites clearly older than the date the patent application was filed.

Does anybody have an idea how that is possible?

[Ken Doggett]

Because the whole patent system is broken.  Look at all the patent troll cases winding through the court now.

[Onion]

This is a patent application, not a granted patent.  I would hope that all of the prior art in H-Bots would cause the patent application to be rejected by the USPTO.

There is a process to challenge patents before they are granted and the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation)is working to pre-emptively challenge many of the bogus 3d printing patent applications; https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/effs-fight-open-3d-printing-continues-askpatentscom

by partnering with Ask Patents; http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2012/09/askpatents-com-a-stack-exchange-to-prevent-bad-patents/

and Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/

This USPTO patent application 20130078073  is currently being discussed on the Ask Patents website; http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/5501/how-was-this-eligible-for-a-patent-us-2013-0078073.

Follow the link to weigh in and learn how to participate by submitting prior art to invalidate bogus patent applications!

[iquizzle]

Thanks guys -- I'll try to see if there is anything I can find to contribute as 'prior art' against this. Unfortunately it looks like the earliest of my own contributions were started -after- the patents were filed by Stratasys. Their patent was filed Sept. 23, 2011. I didn't really start working on an h-bot design until Aug., 2012. The "Doboz 2" by ckaos was first published a year earlier than mine. I'll look and see if I can find any dated material from ckaos' design that predates that patent.

[Onion]

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27202

Dated Aug 2, 2012

[Hrvoje Čop]

Yes, I started that discussion on AskPatents. I did check out the USPTO and found that the patent received a "non-final rejection." Which is good but not great. This still gives Stratasys a bit of leeway so they can change their claims and still patent at least a part of the design. Prior art can still be sent though, but it must be very well chosen and well written. We don't want to spam the patent inspector with loads of useless examples. My thoughts on this are that we should concentrate on H-bot CNC machines also, because the difference in subtractive and additive manufacturing is basically in the toolhead, and a patent can be rejected on the basis of "obviousness to those skilled in the art" and "lack of novelty" both of which this is a prime example of. 

And there's ample examples of such CNC machines on the web up to two or three years earlier than their filing date. 

[Hrvoje Čop]

Great news everyone. The H-bot patent application has received a "Final Rejection" two days ago!

[iquizzle]

That's great news!...especially for this forum. :)  Thanks for the update.

[Chris (crispy1)]

Link?

[Onion]

Application Link;

http://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?PageNum=0&docid=20130078073&IDKey=1E75D49A80C6&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fappft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D27%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPG01%2526s1%3DStratasys%2526OS%3DStratasys%2526RS%3DStratasys

[Chris (crispy1)]

I've seen the patent before, I meant a link that discussed the application being rejected.

[Hrvoje Čop]

You can check the status on the USPTO site by using the patent application number. That's what I did, sorry I don't have time right now to provide a link, but that's where I got the info. 

[Onion]

I have new found faith in the USPTO!

1) Go here: http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair

2) Select Publication Number and paste the Patent Application Publication Number; US 20130078073 A1 into the search box and click search.

3) The Application Data Tab shows that the Final Rejection Was Mailed 12/12/13

3) Click the Image File Wrapper Tab to see the list of references cited by the examiner

In this case the some of the references cited by the examiner were;

http://www.google.co.in/patents/US4457567

http://www.google.com.mx/patents/US5201584

http://www.google.com/patents/US2785941

http://www.google.com/patents/US4315437

http://www.google.com.tr/patents/US6070480

http://www.google.com.tr/patents/US6732609

[Nathan Allen]

Functionally, the design concept of the two-axis XY gantry is not new (including H-bot, CoreXY, and any other recent interpretation). The basic mechanism and kinematics are well known, and have been around since at least before the Etch A Sketch. It's not surprising that this patent was rejected, and Stratasys is probably not the first company to be turned away.

[Shai]

Hi folks, found this old thread via google so probably unlikely to get a reply but it seems the Stratasys patent was approved? https://patents.google.com/patent/US20130078073A1/en