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Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

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Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#81

Post by jijijijij »

V__ wrote: post #39
jijijijij wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the restriction on personal replication of patented designs is a US thing (only?). At least in Germany, you are legally allowed to make patented things for yourself or science to some capacity. The whole point of a patent is encouraging progress through disclosure of knowledge. The US restriction is quite mad, if you think about it. Freedom my ass.

You correct, you are allowed to "break" patent law in Germany, if the use is private and non-commercial. This does not encompass schools and science though.

Research is permitted, if the protected invention is commercially available, as far as I know. E.g. medical research. I believe, this means use for research cannot be restricted once commercially available. I am not sure, if it's limited to medicine in Germany. The US has similar exceptions for medical research AFAIK.

Sadly there is indeed no blanket permission for public research and education in Germany, either. There is little point mentioning it, but HN rate-limited my account, so I couldn't edit or comment to clarify in time.

I am not advocating for the German patent system, I just think the US is particularly ridiculous prohibiting personal reproduction and use. Like, you got a lathe, lab, computer or 3D printer and are literally prohibited to use it as you please, not allowed create certain mechanisms, substances, shapes and functions, for your own use, or even survival, without (possibly) harming anyone else.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#82

Post by thfuran »

bbor wrote: post #35
jijijijij wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the restriction on personal replication of patented designs is a US thing (only?). At least in Germany, you are legally allowed to make patented things for yourself or science to some capacity. The whole point of a patent is encouraging progress through disclosure of knowledge. The US restriction is quite mad, if you think about it. Freedom my ass.

The whole point of a patent is encouraging progress through disclosure of knowledge. Is it, though? It seems like the purpose of a patent is pretty direct: make money for people(/corporations...) who invent things. I guess you could argue that inventors would hide their designs without patents, but that's not how any industry I'm familiar with works; if they thought that obscurity was an option, they'd stick with it…

Modern patent law came from 15th century Venice, where in the 13th century the glassmaker’s guild took trade secrecy so seriously that they decided that any glassworker who left the city without permission was to be hunted down and killed if imprisoning their family didn’t convince them to return.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#83

Post by thfuran »

ForOldHack wrote: post #23
zbrozek wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, though the fidelity offered by faithful CAD would be both easier to interpret correctly and might even hint at the CAD feature tree. Kudos to them for releasing models useful for integration.

From what I remember from my NASA friend, a few companies, hired a few fluid flow engineers, during the defense bust, and designed fan blades that remarkably increased air flow. ( think profiles like air plane wing ). Something happened and in a few years, there were good fans, and there were great fans. I happen to own a pair of Noctura fans, and wow! They are great, so I would assume that some heavy lifting was don…

It better have been, considering what they charge and how long they take to come out with new ones.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#84

Post by jijijijij »

bandrami wrote: post #57
jijijijij wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the restriction on personal replication of patented designs is a US thing (only?). At least in Germany, you are legally allowed to make patented things for yourself or science to some capacity. The whole point of a patent is encouraging progress through disclosure of knowledge. The US restriction is quite mad, if you think about it. Freedom my ass.

> The whole point of a patent is encouraging progress through disclosure of knowledge. Well, in terms of its design, the patent system was designed to reward what we now call theft of IP, by granting someone exclusive use of a technology that they would bring in from another country. Greenfield invention was an afterthought and some of the problems we face stem from that disconnect.

Design by whom? The origin of patent law is older than most nations and constitutions. There have been various variations, reiterations and stated intentions. There is also no such thing as a natural intellectual property and the very legal concept is based on ideas like patent law. And of course, laws only apply to the people governed by them. Bad premises aside, back then, ripping off other peoples was a costly endeavor akin to research investment. And given the importance of the emerging patent system in the industrial revolution, I think your claims are a bit far fetched.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#85

Post by atonse »

zozbot234 wrote: post #55
srott wrote: post #22

There is Fan Show Down on yt where people are trying to beat the original Noctua fan design: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHLn2U7i45M_EXIsnqUyI...

I'm disappointed that this is on YT, shouldn't it be on OnlyFans?

Since this has turned into a "giggle about fans" thread, one of my favorite company names is Big Ass Fans [1]. They make really large fans for warehouses, etc. And their logo is a donkey.

1: https://bigassfans.com/company/about-us/

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#86

Post by colechristensen »

egeozcan wrote: post #3

> To protect our intellectual property, certain features – such as fan impeller geometries – have been slightly modified while remaining visually very close to the actual product. Noob question: If someone wants to copy their design with no respect to their intellectual property, can't they just 3D scan?

A copy-of-a-copy can lose a lot of detail. If you're good, people are going to clone you, but you might as well not do their work for them and filter out at least the lowest effort clones. Given the profit margins of a lot of these things the effort and skill required could make the whole cloning venture not worth it.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#87

Post by stavros »

cheschire wrote: post #79
stavros wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry :/ I even included the r/fanfiction at the end, but that was also apparently too obscure.

I’m sorry too. my stupid jokes in response to yours earlier were just me taking advantage of bad fan puns but others seem to have jumped on the downvote bandwagon.

Daaamn I missed that, though it only worked on one level, as it hadn't blown past me!

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#88

Post by cheschire »

stavros wrote: post #87
cheschire wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry too. my stupid jokes in response to yours earlier were just me taking advantage of bad fan puns but others seem to have jumped on the downvote bandwagon.

Daaamn I missed that, though it only worked on one level, as it hadn't blown past me!

My “cool off” comment was a bad pun too

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#89

Post by malfist »

atonse wrote: post #85
zozbot234 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed that this is on YT, shouldn't it be on OnlyFans?

Since this has turned into a "giggle about fans" thread, one of my favorite company names is Big Ass Fans [1]. They make really large fans for warehouses, etc. And their logo is a donkey. 1: https://bigassfans.com/company/about-us/

Always glad to see them mentioned! I drive by their factory all the time.
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