It's sort of ironic that all the money going to "teach Bambu a lesson" is ultimately defending a guy who is building free tooling that specifically adds value to the Bambu platform. In a sense they win either way.
On one hand, sure. On the other hand, it seems Bambu Lab's intentions are to lock down their ecosystem and extract rent (ala HP and printer ink).
So, if the Vizio case works out for OSS licenses, then Bambu Lab's likely won't be able to lock things down in the way they're intending (unless they expend significant effort to rewrite code).
That'd "stop" them from winning in the way they'd like, to the benefit of the wider Community of Bambu Labs users.
> Bambu might use its software to lock its printers to its own filament and accessories and start charging for subscription services, the way today’s inkjet printer companies do. Bambu did not deny those possibilities when we asked [...]
Today's inkjet printers charge mandatory subscriptions and lock you to their supplies? If so, much has changed since I owned one. I know they always scare you into buying their things, but never locked you into it. My HP laser (not inkjet) printer will happily accept third party toner cartridges.
I could see them making working with third party filaments more and more inconvenient. They already do to some extent where the NFC tag system only works on first party filament, and they are not interested in opening it up, using encryption to prevent third party tags from working with their system.
I think more desirable would be to develop a FOSS server-side stack so people can self-host or use Western cloud alternatives.
It's nice to have pinky promise that BambuLabs cloud service doesn't keep copies of your model files, potentially keeps track of print frequencies (is this a prototype or a finished design?), ... it's easy to assume they wouldn't know what that jig you designed for work is for, but if they collect or buy sufficient data with public databases (where was the printer shipped? what business is registered in this location?); its probably very easy to follow and steal jigs / tooling designs / ... and to organize identification of its use by sector.
Western cloud alternatives might stumble upon other issue: western governments forcing said cloud providers to add filters to their pipelines. It might start as just a filter to prevent gun parts, but there's no reason it can't evolve into a filter that blocks you from making replacement parts for commercial products in general.
So, if the Vizio case works out for OSS licenses, then Bambu Lab's likely won't be able to lock things down in the way they're intending (unless they expend significant effort to rewrite code).
That'd "stop" them from winning in the way they'd like, to the benefit of the wider Community of Bambu Labs users.