this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's going to be interesting seeing how this case unfolds since SeaSonic just jumped into the ring with their RGB Magflow fans:

https://www.techpowerup.com/315850/seasonic-to-launch-new-magflow-120-argb-fan

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Seems like Corsair fans could possibly infringe too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I had no idea Seasonic even makes fans.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

so much research, this video might be shown in court

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (5 children)

those monthly unit figures for these overpriced rgb fans, just wow. free money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I was thinking damn it must be impossible to make money on fans then 0.70 dollors a fan number in the video hit me. I would bet the giga expensive fans out there do cost more and we have seen there is a great deal of engineering in some desgins and that is expensive. But damn the volume and price of fans is just wild.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Arctic sells $5 fans and still makes profit enough that they are willing to give 6 years warranty.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah if the BOM (bill of materials) is 72 cent and shipping and marketing is amortized over every fan they sell them yeah they're happy to give you a warranty.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Honestly, not at all surprising, just head over to r/Corsair or r/lianli for proof.

Half the posts are littered with builds that have $400+ in RGB fans, the other half are people complaining about dying LEDs on overpriced fans.

To each their own, people can choose to spend their money as they will, and I'm not one to judge them for it but my issue is that so many of these RGB fans are so overpriced and more importantly, perform poorly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I'm not sure I'll ever understand why people buy these.

Most £80 cases include all RGB fans now, why would you have to spend so much more money replacing them? It's also a waste of the perfectly good fans that you already had.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

same reason people by shiny parts for car engines, because it looks good, and they have disposable income

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Exactly I don't understand people spending 100$ on RGB that most them underperform on cooling since the blades are smaller

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Underperform is only a problem if they aren't doing the job.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

The cases are just vessels for overpriced accessories. Lian-Li really started the trend and everyone else followed. Put as many user facing/visible fan mounting locations possible to maximize the $30 a pop RGB fan sales.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Text version from PCGamer TL;DR - lawsuit over daisy-chained RGB fans.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

And the TLDW of the video is that it isn't just a lawsuit over daisy chained RGB fans.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

GamersNexus' pursuit for technology/gaming consumer journalism is unmatched in the YouTuber space.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ignoring their ambien tier presentation, its kinda insulting that little kids think how rgb fans video are this big technology topic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Kind of insulting that you consider this to be just a normal RGB fans video. This could have significant ramifications for manufacturers which effects the entire industry.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

entire industry.

...of rgb fans

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Daisy chaining RGB fans shouldn't be something patentable.

I wonder if the defendants will find prior art on some DIY forum.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

$40 fans that perform the same as $10 fans that cost $0.70 to make.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Literally printing money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don't know about pricing in other regions, but in the UK you can get a 3 pack of Thermalright TL-C12C fans for £10.90 (£3.63 each) which perform very similarly in Hardware Canucks testing to Noctua's best NF-A12x25 fan.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I can't help but feel like most of the elements involved here are much more functional, which I feel shouldn't be patentable.

If the argument is that the daisychaining is in the body, it feels a bit like... d'uh? Where else would it go? And the placement is also... d'uh? That's the place not occupied by the fan.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Any numbskull can figure out how to do it, given the assigned task of doing it, and there doesn't seem to be any unique value in the various ways of doing it showcased here. (Personally, I'd prefer a very short cable to allow for mechanical tolerances in fan mounting positions and long-term reliable wiping electrical contact.)

I hope the court focuses on the questions 1) is the idea that it's something you'd want to do itself patentable?, and 2) is the patent written in a way to cover that?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I mean making fans daisy-chain through the body is, as a high level concept, novel. Moves away from having extra cables, etc.

But while the solution is on a high level novel, imo, I think the more specific you get the less novel it becomes, and the more it gets eaten by the functional requirements of it remaining a pretty standard fan design.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I for one am tired of proprietary connectors/signals etc when it comes to RGB and think there needs to be a standard.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

still wondering why the Patent Office issued a Patent for this in the first place

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Deal with the patent office and you'll see. Clown show with rubber stamps.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

cant watch him - I find him so arrogant and condescending