Printer's IP and patent rights?

[Toonces]

I'm a bit of a maker, and for a good while now I've thought about getting into printing for the fun of it and to see where my ideas go. Recently, I've had an idea for what I think would be a marketable piece that would serve as an add-on accessory to current woodworking power tools. Although similar to what's already out there, my version would be a significant enough improvement on current forms that I'm sure it would qualify for protection.

So, being new to this field of small time manufacturing, I'm wondering about what kind of protections are offered to 3D-printed products that are already out there but may not necessarily have patent protection, as that's where I'll be entering the field. I'll be looking into IP and patent protection asap, but in the meantime, if I put something out there, what's to stop someone from just scanning my new products and putting it out for themselves without having done the hard work and analysis that goes into designing such a piece?

[Roxy]

Basically... you are talking about patents. A patent will describe the invention and then make claims about it. It is the claims that have value.

If you have a good idea the only way to get a patent granted to protect it is there can be no 'prior art'. No examples or discussion of the idea should have been done prior to you inventing it.

Whatever the idea is... There will be benefits from implementing the idea. Whatever these benefits are, they get listed in the claims area of the patent. This what is used in court to assess damages for infringing on the patent.

Just for the sake of discussion... Suppose I'm the first person to realize we could run the heaters in the nozzle hotter. I would describe in the patent different ways of doing that. I might push more current through the heaters to do it. I might be able to add a propane torch with a very fine and pointed flame at the heater to help it get hotter. I might find ways to insulate the nozzle so it can't lose heat very fast and as a result it gets hotter. Etc. Etc.

And then the important part of the patent would be the claims. By running the nozzle hotter, what benefits could I get? I could probably melt metallic materials. I might be able to melt ceramic materials (like glass). I might be able make the surface of 3D Printed objects smoother because the material is so hot the individual lines just melt together. I might not need any adhesive because the material might be hot enough to weld itself to the build plate. (Obviously of questionable value but it would still be listed as an advantage of the idea!)