Correct. And where are iPods and portable MP3 players now? If not dead, have become a worthelss commodity market. The patents on SLS have expired, and that is now the next big thing in 3D printers. If you have ever tried to coax a consumer FDM 3D printer into a working reliably and repeatably, you'll understand. The point I'm trying to make is that if you are looking to invest, then invest in the big companies that make the huge and expensive commercial and industrial 3D printers. The consumer 3D printer market is an over-saturated cut-throat me-too race to the bottom, and will only get worse.
I agree with you on everything. The point about IP is more about the digital models being used to produce objects rather than the IP of the printers themselves, and that companies may, at some point in the future, see them as a threat and lobby the government for even more draconian IP laws and restrictive DRM idiocy to make it difficult to share and innovate in that space without licence fees. I've already heard of medical device manufacturers getting pissed off with medical researchers and surgeons sharing and developing innovative once-off patient-specific objects instead of buying expensive stuff from a dominant manufacturer.
