Asetek's New Watercooling Patents Will Hurt Consumers

[Russian]

Asetek is at it again, with yet another patent that basically patents GPU water cooling with microchannels. Something that I'm fairly sure they weren't the first to do...

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/2014...urt-consumers/

[Buckeye]

I wonder what impact that will have on products that are already out there ?

I don't like what Asetek is doing, sounds a lot like Apple imo, patent water next ?

[Scubar]

There should be some kind of law that states you cannot patent something that is already available to consumers.

[Russian]

There should be some kind of law that states you cannot patent something that is already available to consumers.

To be fair, they applied for this patent a while ago. My complaint is that their litigation has forced there to be almost no competition in the water cooling market and as a result, almost all LCLC is now Asetek.

[naokaji]

To be fair, they applied for this patent a while ago.

They may have applied 6 years ago, however the typical flat gpu cooler design (as opposed to the even older cpu cooler derived designs) isn't anything new, for example Aqua Computer had it at least 10 years ago already with products like the aquagratiX800.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

To be fair, they applied for this patent a while ago. My complaint is that their litigation has forced there to be almost no competition in the water cooling market and as a result, almost all LCLC is now Asetek.

Is there any word of a lawsuit between the rest of the WCing industry vs Asetek?


I also wonder how hard this will be to actually enforce this & how much would someone have to change to not be sued. Will channel width come into play here? Seems like a stupid game of numbers.

[Russian]

Is there any word of a lawsuit between the rest of the WCing industry vs Asetek?


I also wonder how hard this will be to actually enforce this & how much would someone have to change to not be sued. Will channel width come into play here? Seems like a stupid game of numbers.

They've actually gone after Swiftech, Coolermaster, CoolIt and others (those are just off the top of my head) in the past few years with their recent patents.

The truth is that Asetek hasn't done anything truly novel here that hasn't already been done other than MAYBE combining the pump and the waterblock into a single assembly. That's arguable, but everything else they're trying to patent is very questionable.

[Linchpin]

The fact that they keep getting away with this blatant patent trolling just is sad and disheatening, the entire patent system is broken and there's no will to fix it. Honestly looking at the laws society has come up with you can probably ditch at least half and achieve better results since more laws is just more loopholes and more potential for abuse.

[WangChung]

The rest of the WC industry should ask Newegg for help to combat the trolling.

[Russian]

The problem is that Newegg isnt really in a place to fight such patents in court unless they (Rosewill) start to manufacture liquid cooling and end up getting sued by Asetek.

[Evantaur]

one more reason to stay away from asetek products

[El Mano]

I blame each and every Asetek customer for supporting them.

[WangChung]

The problem is that Newegg isnt really in a place to fight such patents in court unless they (Rosewill) start to manufacture liquid cooling and end up getting sued by Asetek.

I had no idea Rosewill was Newegg's brand. Good to know!

[HuffPCair]

This is why we need patent reform. The patent system is sooo messed up.

[himaro]

My issue was that if it wasn't Asetek, it would be another company.
If the system is open to abuse, whoever gets there first, wins.
What are the anti-compeitive laws like in the US?
I'm pretty sure a patent like that in the EU would be torn to shreds in an EU court as it's pretty much the de-facto GPU waterblock design in there.