Electronic Frontier Foundation Mobilizing to Fight 3D Printing Patent Trolls

From the EFF:

EFF’s Fight for Open 3D Printing Continues at Ask Patents

We’ve been working for some time—with your help—to ensure that improvidently granted patents don’t threaten exciting and growing 3D printing technology. The good news is that with the help of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, we’ve been able to challenge a number of such dangerous patent applications at the Patent Office.
But we’re not done.

The project to challenge patent applications covering 3D printing technology is important not just because of the promise of that technology, but because we’re relying on a fairly new legal procedure called Preissuance Submissions. That procedure allows third parties to participate in the patent application process by providing patent examiners with prior art.1 As we’ve said before, we’re glad to see the Patent Office open up the process to those who might not be filing patents themselves, but who are affected by the patent system everyday.

Yet, just as we feared, the process is not an easy one. For starters, searching the Patent Office’s website for pending applications is hard. And then, even if you can identify applications, it’s tough to know which ones really pose a danger to a growing technology. And, finally, the most important step of all: uncovering and submitting helpful information during the short window of opportunity....MORE

Here's Ask Patents and an example:

CALL FOR PRIOR ART: 3D Printing application “Additive Manufacturing System and Method for Printing Customized Chocolate Confections” (13/432424)

This call for prior art is part of the EFF's effort to keep 3D printing open. Read about the initiative here, and check out Google Patents or the USPTO for full details about this particular application.
"Additive Manufacturing System and Method for Printing Customized Chocolate Confections"
This application claims that 3D printing with chocolate is sufficiently inventive to receive a patent, paving the way for every thermoplastic material to be covered by its own patent when used for 3D printing....

...APPLICATION OVERVIEW: This application claims the use of chocolate in extrusion-based 3D printing. The chocolate is held in a heated reservoir. When printing begins, the chocolate is pumped from the reservoir to the print head, while still being heated to maintain its temperature and tempered state. The print head then extrudes the chocolate material to build the 3D object. Unused chocolate in the print head is then sent back to the reservoir and heated again.
Claim 1 requires, among other things:

1. An additive manufacturing system for printing a chocolate confection, the additive manufacturing system comprising: at least one controller configured to receive instructions for printing the chocolate confection, and further configured to relay commands relating to the received instructions; a platen; a recirculation loop configured to circulate a flow of a chocolate material, and further configured to maintain a temper of the chocolate material; and a print head in signal communication with the at least one controller, the print head being configured to receive at least a portion of the chocolate material from the recirculation loop, and further configured to extrude and deposit the chocolate material onto the platen to print at least a portion of the chocolate confection based on the commands from the at least one controller.

WHY IT MATTERS: Printing with chocolate is wonderful, but this isn’t just about chocolate. There is a vast array of thermoplastic materials that can be used in 3D printing, and it should not be possible to get an exclusive patent on each new material that is used in conjunction with well-known technology. The use of a recirculation loop (sending unused print material back to the reservoir) is also an obvious idea....MORE

HT and headline: Engineering.com