Wednesday, September 13th 2023
Lian Li Sues Phanteks Over Fan Design Patent
Lian Li Industries has filed a legal case against Phanteks Europe/Axpertec Inc. at the US District Court (Central District of California)—they allege in their patent suit that the Phanteks D30 RGB cooling fan series infringes on a June 2020 registered design (US patent 10,690,336 B1). Notice was initially sent out back in May of this year, but Phanteks appears to have ignored those early warning signs and continued to market and sell its D30 RGB products. Lian Li believes that Phanteks has copied their simple and compact connection method of daisy chaining RGB fans—as featured on the UNI FAN lineup. The P28 120 mm model was semi-recently awarded with a highly recommended verdict.
TechPowerUp reviewers have not had the chance to have a poke around with any Phanteks daisy-chainable D30 RGB fans, but a quick comparative glance between relevant product pages reveals a little bit of "inspired-by." The September 8 filing has Lian Li seeking damages to date—upon a successful outcome (in their favor). Additionally Phanteks will be required to pay a license fee if it decides to keep its D30 series alive post-case conclusion. Corsair and Thermaltake have also produced fan products with daisy-chaining connectivity—iCUE Link and SWAFAN EX respectively—could these manufacturers be targeted in the near future?
Sources:
Overclock3D, Tom's Hardware, Justia Dockets & Filings
TechPowerUp reviewers have not had the chance to have a poke around with any Phanteks daisy-chainable D30 RGB fans, but a quick comparative glance between relevant product pages reveals a little bit of "inspired-by." The September 8 filing has Lian Li seeking damages to date—upon a successful outcome (in their favor). Additionally Phanteks will be required to pay a license fee if it decides to keep its D30 series alive post-case conclusion. Corsair and Thermaltake have also produced fan products with daisy-chaining connectivity—iCUE Link and SWAFAN EX respectively—could these manufacturers be targeted in the near future?
24 Comments on Lian Li Sues Phanteks Over Fan Design Patent
Having said that, I also don't give a rat's posterior about "intellectual property" anymore because intellectual property laws were originally written with the idea that a patent or copyright would expire no more than 15 after its creation. Now we have Nintendo trying to sue emulator programmers over copyright infringement for properties that were en vogue well over 30 years ago.
As far as I'm concerned, these laws hurt progress more than they help it because you get companies that just buy a bunch of IP and sit on it, leeching from an entire industry while offering nothing to it. When the IP laws are made fair and reasonable again, ONLY THEN will I take any interest in their outcomes.
lianli/comments/16gqf7y
dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2023cv07470/898157
the idea of daisy chaining is nothing new. Thunderbolt has daisy chaining support.
I wonder if the patent will be declared invalid ?
www.arctic.de/us/BioniX-P120-A-RGB/ACFAN00146A
Guess greedy-ass Lian Li will be suing them too :rolleyes:
Although after Lian Li's design, I recall there being a china-only brand that did something similar for much cheaper, although it's just a basic 120 design, nothing as fancy as Lian Li's, but it did use a similar on-frame connection.
That said, I think Phantek's design might stand on its own; their connection points are different, being on the corners rather than along the sides, and requiring a second piece to bridge them, VS Lian Li's being more integrated.
But I'll throw you a bone and admit that Lian Li did do the first direct connection daisy chain setup. However, besides Phanteks, they also have to deal with Corsair too, who also have their own fan-to-fan daisy chain system. Phanteks' and Corsair's implementations are different enough from Lian Li's to likely survive any challenges.
seasonic.com/magflow-120mm
www.bilibili.com/opus/840776179328745478?
Phantek said it has patents in US\DE\CN.
I am using 4x uni fans for my case front and it is certainly a good thing having all 4 ramp up/down together and only take up 1 slot on my OCTO controller.
You seem to be arguing more about the combined frame-lock w/ integrated connector design rather than about modularity. In that regard, Lian Li has done it first (AFAIK, in the consumer space), no questions about that. It's been done separately at different points in time. And going by your argument, then Phanteks and Corsair are perfectly safe too, since Phanteks' design requires two bridges (one powered and one not) and does not slide-lock into place, and Corsair's design requires bridge connectors like the old Artic BioniX (but via 2 connectors as well; one for pass-through and one for rigidity purposes). The old BioniX could technically support the middle fan or two in vertical setups without securing the middle fans, and they could stand to update the design to just have a second bridge connector for rigidity similar to Corsair for use in horizontal setups.