Stratasys wins court ruling that could block BambuLab's purge tower feature
3D printer company Stratasys won an administrative court ruling against BambuLab over a feature called the 'purge tower.' A purge tower is a small structure printed alongside a model to clean the nozzle when switching colors. The ruling could force BambuLab to change or remove this feature from its printers.
A purge tower is a small sacrificial structure that multi-color 3D printers build on the side of a print job. Each time the printer switches filament color, it pushes the leftover color through the nozzle into this tower, keeping the actual model clean. It has been a near-universal technique across the 3D printing industry for years.
Stratasys, a long-established 3D printer company, claims to hold a patent on this method and took BambuLab to court. An administrative court sided with Stratasys, dealing a significant blow to BambuLab, a fast-growing consumer printer brand known for strong multi-color printing. BambuLab may now need to redesign how its printers handle color changes, pay licensing fees, or face sales restrictions. The ruling worries the open-source 3D printing community, since popular free slicing tools like OrcaSlicer also implement purge towers.
Key points
- A purge tower is the standard method almost all multi-color 3D printers use to clean the nozzle between color changes
- Stratasys claims a patent on this technique and just won an administrative court ruling against BambuLab
- BambuLab may have to redesign its multi-color printing system or pay patent licensing fees
- Open-source slicers like OrcaSlicer and PrusaSlicer could also be affected
- The legal battle is not over — BambuLab can still appeal or negotiate a settlement
Quick term guide
- administrative court
- A type of court that handles disputes involving government agencies or regulatory decisions, separate from regular civil courts
- purge tower
- A small extra structure a 3D printer builds beside the main object to flush out leftover filament when changing colors
- Lean
- Software that rigorously checks whether a mathematical proof is logically correct.
- build
- A chosen set of in-game abilities or items a player equips for their character.
- filament
- The spool of plastic thread that a 3D printer melts and layers to build objects
- ping
- The time (in milliseconds) it takes for a signal to travel from your device to another and back — lower means faster response.
- TRON
- A compact data format made to describe tool use with fewer words for AI systems.
- open-source
- Software whose code is shared publicly so others can inspect, use, or change it.