Bad news for Markforged: They’ve lost their patent lawsuit with Continuous Composites.
Continuous Composites is an Idaho-based company that is one of the few that produces continuous carbon fiber 3D printers. In this approach, long strands of carbon fiber are laid down during 3D print jobs, making the parts incredibly strong. This is quite different from “carbon fiber” filament, which is merely a mix of polymer and chopped carbon fibers. Continuous Composites’ specific technology is called “CF3D”.
Markforged is one of the few other companies producing continuous carbon fiber 3D printers, and has done so for quite some time. Many companies were introduced to the “CCF” concept through Markforged’s technology.
However, in 2021 Continuous Composites filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Markforged, claiming that company’s technology used technology that was described in their patents. Several counts were presented in the lawsuit.
Later in 2023 some of the case was resolved, as four of the counts were dismissed by a court. Evidently the court felt these four counts were not actually infringement. However, one count remained active in the case.
Now we know the outcome of that final case: Continuous Composites has won.
In a detailed statement from Markforged, we’ve learned that the jury in the trial determined that one a claim related to the remaining Continuous Composites’ patent was indeed infringed by Markforged.
The penalty given to Markforged was an immediate payment of US$17.34M to Continuous Composites, along with royalty payments to license the patent. In practical terms, this means that Markforged will pay Continuous Composites US$18M in 4Q24, along with licensing payments of US$1M in 4Q25, US$2M in 4Q26 and US$4M in 4Q27. That totals US$25M in damages and licensing.
With the payments, the parties agreed to dismiss all claims with each other.
Markforged CEO Shai Terem said:
“We are pleased to announce this Settlement Agreement which, if approved by the District Court, will bring this litigation to a successful conclusion that will eliminate this distraction to Markforged and the uncertainty over the outcome of this litigation for all of our stakeholders.”
How will this affect Markforged? It’s a hefty blow, as the company’s current valuation is only US$38M as of this writing. That’s like having a legal bill of US$130,000 for your US$200,000 house.
Nevertheless, Markforged’s share price seems stable and is even up today. Evidently investors were well aware of the case and had pre-valued the company lower because of it. Now that the case has been resolved, it appears the share price is rising.
I’m now wondering about other companies producing continuous carbon fiber 3D printers, and whether Continuous Composites may file cases against them.
Via Markforged
