Patent Enforcement In A Time Of Troubles

In Bird Culture …

Update:

Manufacturing company Intersurgical says it had no intention of making a threat. Managing director Charles Bellm issued a statement to The Verge:

You may recall the story from earlier this week about how Italian manufacturing solutions company FabLab found a solution to a lack of availability of a specific valve for respirators.  They first approached the Luxembourg based company which holds the patent for the valve to ask for the specifications of the valves so that they could be properly 3D printed during this emergency, as all the licensed sources were out of inventory and unable to fill requests in a timely manner.   The company rebuffed their request and so they recruited a pair of veteran 3D printers to measure one of the valves to determine if they could print out replacement parts, which they were successful in doing and these valves have since saved lives.

Well, it seems that the patent holders disapprove of this and are considering legal action against those involved in creating these replacement parts.  Ignoring the disparities in manufacturing costs for the moment; enforcing your patents is certainly a legal right and not something you should be disparaged for doing.  Unfortunately in these times that decision is ethically questionable as there is literally no way to purchase a legally manufactured valve without sitting and watching people die while awaiting a new shipment.

If hospitals chose to continue using the 3D printed part after the pandemic has come under control then one could understand why a lawsuit would be launched, after all the printed part costs 10,000 times less than the patented part.  That would certainly be an interesting case to watch in the future, but for right now it is either farcical or pathetic.