全球制造服务公司Jabil, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, has a filed a lawsuit against Texan 3D printer providerEssentiumInc.这main claim made by the company is that founding members of Essentium have plagiarized the design for their High Speed Extrusion (HSE) 3D printer from IP developed during prior employment at Jabil. The complaint was filed June 28, 2019 and is seeking a jury trial.
官方文件由律师事务所提起Greenberg Traurigon behalf of Jabil sates, “Simply put, Essentium has stolen Jabil’s trade secrets and capitalized on confidential information that Jabil invested thousands of hours over a period of years and millions of dollars to develop.”
此外,行动的本质,它州,”存在ntium’s HSE printers are, foundationally, outdated iterations of Jabil’s TenX.”
贾比尔公司企业传播副总裁米歇尔·史密斯（Michelle Smith）对3D印刷行业表示：“作为增材制造业的全球领导者，贾比尔致力于保护我们的知识产权在我们的尖端3D打印机创新中，”
“The misappropriation of our confidential designs, vendor relationships, and other trade secrets by these former employees alleged in the lawsuit necessitated Jabil to protect our substantial investment.”
Essentiumhas since responded in董事会主席的来信Steve Birdwell, “This action,” Birdwell states, “is entirely without merit, and we are responding to it aggressively,”
“Our corporate values are based around trust, service, transparency, and innovation. We have never detracted from these values.”
关于贾比尔
Incorporated in 1969 as a manufacturer of PC components, Jabil has grown into an organization employing 170,000 people worldwide across 100 plants in 28 countries.
在增材制造业中，该公司经常拥有最早尝试新技术的技术之一。2016年，它成为第一家接收的北美公司HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers，后来的一年是第一个商业客户Nano Dimension的Dragonfly 2020 3D打印机.
最近,这家公司has also established its ownMaterials Innovation Centerto develop filaments and powders for 3D printing.
贾比尔的投诉和指控
贾比尔（Jabil）的索赔追溯到2016年之前，当时贾比尔（Jabil）雇用了Essentium创始团队的一些成员。Erik Gjovik，Essentium的现任CPO，Greg Ojeda，该公司的前CCO，Terry MacNeish，R＆D负责人，Lars Uffhausen，Essentium CCO和CFO都被Jabil雇用，以表明将一个机密的项目带入FRUITION。所讨论的项目是所谓的“ Tenx” 3D打印机的开发。
在开发时，Gjovik是Jabil的总监，当时是增材制造业的工程服务高级总监。Ojeda曾在Jabil的添加剂制造生态系统开发和战略中担任管理和导演角色。麦克尼什（Macneish）被贾比尔（Jabil）聘为TENX的主要设计工程师，乌夫豪森（Uffhausen）也担任公司的承包商。
Based on fused filament fabrication (FFF) the TenX, according to Jabil “offers substantially more speed and flexibility than its legitimate competitors.” With Essentium HSE’s claims of being “10 times faster than the competition” the plaintiff alleges that this system has been built using confidential information obtained by Gjovik, Ojeda, and MacNeish in their time working for Jabil. The complaint also states, “Indeed, in an audacious nod to the true origin of its printers, Essentium continues to boast in its advertisements that its HSE printers operate at “10X” their competitors’ speed.”
At the time of these developments, Essentium was intitially known as Essentium Materials, and made filaments for FFF 3D printers. According to the plaintiff Gjovik, Ojeda, and MacNeish “were conspiring against” Jabil in an attempt to license the TenX 3D printer to Essentium before they joined the company.
About Essentium
Essentium Materials成立于2013年，但是Essentium Inc.，该公司负责提供HSE 3D打印机的公司于2018年10月成立了所有被告在Jabil离开职位后。这forthcoming release of the HSE system, named the 180-S, was announced by Essentium in April 2018, and the machine wasexhibited to the public for the first time在Rapid + TCT2019。$22.2 million in series A investment，该公司计划在未来五年内将其劳动力最多扩大到200名员工。
As it stands, Jabil is seeking various damages from the Essentium team including for actual loss, consequential damages, compensation, and attorney’s fees. The value of these damages is to be determined in court should the case be ruled in favor of Jabil’s complaint.
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Featured image shows inside a Jabil production facility. Photo via Jabil
Note: This article has been edited since its initial publication to record official comment from Michelle Smith, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Jabil.
On July 23, 2019, further amendments were made to include comment from Essentium Chairman of the Board Steve Birdwell.
