Anyone working on smart USB-C print head / cable replacement

[curious aardvark]

one thing to consider is whether it's worth going down the copyright/patent route or not.

had a fascinating conversation with some lawyers at tct a year or so back.
And basically they said that copyrights/patents are not always a cost effective route.

You need to balance the amount of potential profit - factoring in manufacturing, admin, postage etc - against the cost of global copyrighting. And also bear in mind that, if it's any good, the chinese will steal it anyway.
So you're either facing long and expensive court cases or just letting them do it, which could cost you just as much.

Case in point - e3d - I honestly don't know of any of their products that hasn't been pirated and the pirate versions sell a LOT more than the proginals.
But they've clearly decided that the legal route is not a battle worth fighting.

Measure that against just selling the entire design to a larger company who can afford to copyright.
Often that's a more profitable route.

The other approach is to make the electronics too difficult to copy.
Some kind of military grade encryption maybe.
If it can't be copied - there's no need for patents and copyright as - it can't be copied :-)
And also bear in mind that someone out there will most likely be able to copy it - no matter what you do.
Or if you manage to get round that - then definitely patent the anti copying aspect as that would be worth an absolute fortune :-)

But definitely an interesting project :-)