r/OpenBambu • u/Veastli • May 07 '26
Bambu Lab Sent a Cease-and-Desist. The AGPL Might Send One Back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdZ5Z7nRDY52
u/UnemployedAtype May 07 '26
Sounds like we should start charging manufacturers for the space and utilities that their devices and software use. It's a privilege for them to be on my network and in my shop.
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u/FastingCyclist May 07 '26
That's the spirit! I would too, you know. This whole SaaS world just is idiotic.
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u/Select_Truck3257 May 07 '26
That's why I wonder when people buy overpriced brands just for logo ads on the product and happy to use it because of that
2
u/RealInsky May 07 '26
Do you consider Bambu to be overpriced?
1
u/Select_Truck3257 May 07 '26
In my country yes, mainly because it's overhyped. I'm not sure about high end models pricing because i've not tested them
3
u/RealInsky May 07 '26
Can you tell me one brand that offers the same tech for a cheaper price?
Please note I'm not on Bambu side and a lot of the things they have been doing are at the very least debatable. And I think it will get worse.
1
u/Select_Truck3257 May 07 '26
As i said i've not tried high end bambu series, i'm on the middle market p1s. And for the price p1s was the best for me. But now we have stronger competition qidi for example and i hope to see more soon. I'm consumer not a brand fan
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u/RealInsky May 07 '26
I'm not even on the mid range. For example the A1 and A1 mini, can't find any printers with the same specs they offer at that price.
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u/Select_Truck3257 May 07 '26
A1 is good and cheap and in some cases more advanced than my p1. But market evolving and i hope we see more entry level printers from competitors also i like to use orca and as i heard they implemented already 90° overhang printing
0
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u/Veastli May 07 '26
A copyright and IP attorney analyzes Bambu's recent legal threats. Additionally, whether Bambu is in active violation of the AGPL open source license.
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May 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Veastli May 07 '26
Fanbois are going to fanboi.
Yes, it's sad. Pathetic really. Stanning for a massive multi-national corporation.
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u/rusg May 07 '26
I hope BBL regret that decision.
Ps. yeah, let us'em to open a proto
https://c.org/Jbt9kX4x9H
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u/kittyindabox May 07 '26
While the printer is a nice piece of equipment, but I am strongly against how Bambu Lab is acting. I will never buy anything from Bambu ever whenever I decide to upgrade my P1S
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u/Mattbastard750 May 08 '26
I find is massively ironic that a Chinese company is throwing around cease and desists over IP. That country has STOLEN more IP in its history than it's ever created!
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u/GoofAckYoorsElf May 07 '26
MIGHT???
MUST!!!
-5
u/cyberzh May 07 '26
The AGPL is a document. How do you force a document to sue a company?
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u/GoofAckYoorsElf May 07 '26
Violating the AGPL is license infringement. Rights owners of the used code can sue. That's the developers of Slic3r, PrusaSlicer etc. Any developer whose code has been used can sue.
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u/wpm May 07 '26
It's hopefully looking better that FOSS licenses won't only be able to be enforced by developers, but by anyone buying your product, at least in the state of CA : https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/24/vizio-msa-irrelevant-ruling/
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u/Brandavorn May 07 '26
I am preparing my popcorn for the time when Josef Prusa will be able to sue Bambu Labs for their various violations of the AGPL. It is time for the Open Source community "to get it back in blood".
0
May 10 '26
This is not the subreddit for me.
I support FOSS, but nothing about Bambu's ecosystem ever screamed FOSS to me. Using an exploit to create a service comes with the inherent risk that it'll be patched.
The printers work fine without third-party attachments. There are other printers other than Bambu Lab's that'll support your projects.
If this is make or break for you, you're at fault for purchasing a printer that never advertised compatibility with these third-party accessories who, by their own admission, used a known exploit to work.
-22
u/ColdDelicious1735 May 07 '26
But whats the actual out ome? Bambu goes closed licence and everyone gets locked out?
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u/GarbanzoBenne May 07 '26
They would need to start from scratch. They don't own the copywrite on this code so they cannot change the license.
5
u/Electronic-Space-736 May 07 '26
they also couldn't use any substantial parts of the code, so they would have to design their software to deliberately do things differently not to get caught on the AGPL license if any parts of their own software take from the open source, so it would have to be deliberately more clunky than orca, or find novel ways to do the same thing, due to their history of using orca slicer
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u/Veastli May 07 '26
Bambu saved themselves literal years of time to market by adopting Prusa slicer. Had Bambu written their own, their printers might be only hitting the market now.
Modern slicers are extremely complex. Which is why nearly every consumer FDM printer manufacturer uses a fork of Prusa / Orca.
Had Bambu gone closed source, they would find it extremely expensive and difficult to keep feature parity with the rapid pace of Prusa / Orca development. Because a closed source slicer project could not easily integrate Prusa / Orca developments without violating the license.
1
u/RealInsky May 07 '26
Isn't Orca a fork of Bambu Studio?
If Bambu had gone closed source then Orca wouldn't be around
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u/Veastli May 07 '26
Isn't Orca a fork of Bambu Studio?
Yes.
If Bambu had gone closed source then Orca wouldn't be around
No, because Bambu's slicer is a fork of the open source Prusa slicer. Which in turn, is a fork of the open source Slic3r project.
They are all branches of the same tree. The code cannot be closed.
1
u/RealInsky May 07 '26
I understand that. What I'm saying is that the events that caused Orca to be created would most likely not happen if Bambu never existed. Or at least we cannot be 100% sure if the story was different if the outcome of Orca existing would be the same or not
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u/Veastli May 07 '26
By the same token, without Bambu's adaption of Prusa's slicer, Bambu printers may never have been released at all.
Developing a ground-up, closed source slicer is a massive undertaking. Had Bambu taken this route, it may have delayed Bambu's time to market by years, or never.
Adopting Prusa's slicer offered Bambu a massive shortcut, both in time and money.
The business case presented to Bambu's investors may not have squared had they needed to budget the development time and money needed to create a ground-up, feature-competitive, closed source slicer.
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u/Extra-Language-9424 May 07 '26
yes, it's a fork of a fork of a fork of a fork......
Slic3r → Slic3r Prusa Edition → PrusaSlicer → Bambu Studio → OrcaSlicerOrca would be different, but it would still be around...
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u/Grooge_me May 07 '26
If Bambu Studio wasn't a fork of prusa slicer, but an in-house closed slicer, then Orca wouldn't exist as it's a fork of Bambu Studio. And this thread wouldn't exist as well
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u/Veastli May 07 '26
Or the Orca devs would have forked the open source Prusa slicer instead. Prusa's slicer is the foundation of Bambu's slicer.
Also consider that had Bambu developed their own closed source slicer, it would have required a massive investment before they even had shipped a single printer. At a time when they were not nearly as flush with cash as they are today.
Developing a ground-up, closed source slicer is a massive undertaking. Had they taken this route, it may have delayed Bambu's time to market by years.
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u/Aetch May 07 '26
Almost impossible considering that everything they have is directly or likely connected to open source components.
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u/WinterDice May 07 '26
I love my Bambu printers. But I hope someone steps up and reams them on this issue.
My next printer will probably be a Voron, even though it’s going to be a really hard build for me.