- State-backed rivals have made open source 3D printing nearly impossible
- Chinese subsidies change global competition on Desktop 3D printer production
- Cheap Chinese Patents create obstacles far outside Europe’s market limits
The Open Source movement in 3D printing once thrived with shared design, social projects and cross -border collaboration.
However, Josef Prusa, head of Prusa Research, has announced, “Open Hardware -Desktop 3D printing is dead.”
The remark stands out because his company long advanced open design, shared files and innovations with the wider community.
Financial support and patent challenges
Prusa built his early business in a small basement in Prague and packages frames in pizza boxes, while he was addicted to contributions from others who shared his philosophy.
What has changed, he now claims is not consumer demand, but the imbalance created when the Chinese government noticed 3D printing of a “strategic industry” in 2020.
In his blog post, Prusa quotes a study from the Rhodium group that describes how China supports its companies with grants, subsidies and easier credit.
This makes it much cheaper to manufacture machines there than in Europe or North America.
The problem becomes more complicated when looking at patents. In China, it costs to register a claim as little as $ 125, while it challenges one ranging from $ 12,000 to $ 75,000.
This hole has encouraged an increase in local archives, often on designs that trace back to open source projects.
Prusa’s previous machines, such as the original i3, showed proud components of partners such as E3D and Noctua, which embodied a spirit of society, but was also easy to copy, with whole guides displayed online just months after release.
The latest PRUSA printers, including MK4 and Core One, are now limiting access to key electronic designs even while offering STL files for printed parts.
The NEXTRUDER system is fully proprietary and marks a clear retreat from total openness.
Prusa claims that Chinese companies effectively lock the technology that society thought to share – as a patent in China does not block its company from selling in Europe, it prevents access to the Chinese market.
A greater risk emerges when agencies like the US patent office treat patents such as “for known art”, creating obstacles that are expensive and time -consuming to clear.
Prusa cited the case of the Chinese company, Anycubic, and secured an American patent on a multicolored hub similar to the MMU system that his company was first released in 2016.
Years earlier, Bambu Lab introduced its A1 series, which also drew inspiration from the same concept.
Anycubic now sells Kobra 3 combination with this feature and raises questions about how agencies assign patents and who has legitimate claims.
Meanwhile, Bambu Lab is facing separate legal battles with Stratasys, the American pioneer whose patents once kept 3D printing limited to costly industrial use.
Declaring the end of open hardware may be dramatic, but the pressure is real.
Between state aid, permitted patent rules and rising disputes, erodes the basis for open cooperation.
Via Toms hardware
