So this kind of sounds like what the big printer companies did with ink. They put electronics in the module so that it would be difficult for Walgreen's to refill the cartridge. And anti-trust issues came into play. They can have the electronics to provide 'value' but they can't deliberately design the cartridges so they can be a single source supplier.

But all that aside, if the Stratasys printers are real good, I'm going to start learning about them.