Asetek's Patent for Integrated Pump in AIO Liquid Coolers Expired Today

[blinnbanir]

I am not talking about Alphacool as a firm but the concept they and EK tried to sell it just isnt as popular. I think Swifttech has folded and their AIO with DDC pump was something that should have sold well but didnt.

EK was popular until they showed that they did not know how to combine Copper and Aluminum but Alphacool was way more accepted by the Community. That was because they were parts that you could buy individually and everything was copper. In the Water cooling space even the Alphacool AIO is expandable to include GPU cooling.

 

[Rover4444]

Why would anyone innovate then?

To beat the competition. There are so many examples of where a patent expiring causes an upspring of new companies offering new products based on that old patent with new innovations of their own that this isn't an actual argument.

Imagine if only ONE company could produce anything you could buy.

Thats... a take. Patents and copyright were created to reward innovation, not stifle it. The systems built around them are absolutely imperfect and exploitable, but what system isn't?

Patents and copyrights "reward" innovation... by preventing further unauthorized innovations based on that patent and copyright. Yes, patents and copyrights are absolutely meant to stifle innovations, and consumers (literally) pay the price.

Design patents are okay though, I like those.