https://twitter.com/RepMGP/status/1790802691355988339
I've seen a guy not lose half of his hand thanks to a sawstop. The tech is good. Most of SawStop's patents have also expired, and SawStop has agreed to make the key aspects that are technically still patented open to the public by the effective date of the law.
This shit is a no-brainer and even a 5 second Google search blows up her whole narrative on this instantly. Loser shit.
sawstop is a lawsuit happy patent troll that is pushing this regulation so that every saw maker operating in the US has to pay them a licensing fee.
If this is true, and I'll just take your word for the moment, then simple solution is simultaneously strip the patent and all variants of it going forward
That does seem to be what's being proposed in the original post. The last line isn't "stop this indefinitely" it's "stop this until the patents are made public"
Okay, that's reasonable IF you're implementing a solution at the same time. Make it a legally standard part and have the manufacturers pay the patent holder for all I care until then. The stopgap measure shouldn't be 'keep letting people lose fingers until we settle this'.
Oh yeah, the caveat is that if you're gonna run this play you have to actually work to get that law passed. You can't just use the fact that a safety regulation would create a monopoly to not do anything
It wouldn't even bother me if they just like, made them cut a government contract style deal where they'd make and develop it under subsidy until they get a law passed. That's some wonk shit, but I'm trying to consider a doable thing under lib world to keep fingers on hands until it's settled. Cause in the end, does anyone operating these machines give a flying fuck who's getting the money for what's keeping their hands attached to.their arms more than that it's fucking there in the first place? Instal tthe damn sensors and then argue about it.
And strip an innovator of their intellectual property? Earnestly this is probably legally/politically impossible for even the federal government to do.
I mean politically Biden is doing an extremely unpopular war/genocide. Stripping patents from shitty companies is far more popular. And yeah the government can essentially do anything it wants on that front. SCOTUS will sometimes strike things down as being unconstitutional, but if you go off that logic then basically every law can be debate-broed into being unconstitutional. Which is one of many problems with SCOTUS allocating itself more power... different discussion though. But yes congress can absolutely strip a patent with minimal effort.
I read they are also offering their patent to other table saw producers if this passes.
Finger safety devices are fucking awesome. The one I was working with a few years ago, if the blade encounters something conductive like your finger, an electro-magnet throws a block of aluminum in to the saw blade and stops it. Near instantly. Finger saved. It costs, idk, 100$ to reset, but that's a damn sight less than losing a finger. Like you might be nicked but you're probably not even going to need a bandaid. Just so damn cool, and one of the biggest dangers in a wood shop becomes vastly, vastly safer to work with.
I don't know; I've always felt this kind of tech, while it has its upsides, tends to come with some severe downsides.
How are you ever going to justify the use of a table saw in a horror movie ever again?
Kids these days just don't get that Emo Philips scene in UHF (1989) because of SawStop™️ working in cahoots with BIG WOKE!
If this isn't already a bit in a Scream-like horror comedy it should be. Or maybe the killer comes at someone with a chainsaw, but they're wearing one of those pairs of anti-chainsaw pants.
I feel like Wish Upon has a scene where Audrey from Twin Peaks has a bunch of fake-out accidental deaths in a kitchen until she finally gets got.
Just have a character mention in the first act they can't do a project because they're having issues with the table saw.
It's how the strangers justified killing somebody by putting their head in an open microwave and turning it on, which would require multiple safety devices to fail.
How are you ever going to justify the use of a table saw in a horror movie ever again?
the saw is owned by a guy who really hates the government patent trolls
The victim seems totally calm until.they notice it's a tablesaw from prior to the regulatory date. Cause you fucking know you won't have to update your saws as an employer let alone a private owner. Which will probably also be a thing that if it becomes necessary then it will only apply to new saws and anyone thst already had an industrial saw, which is generally built to last or be serviced like a ship.of theseus where as far as regulations are concerned it's the same saw they bought in the 70s, you won't see it unless some saws get sabbed
You get the funny scene of killer dragging someone into the blade, the blade stopping, there's a comedic beat, then they hit them with an axe or something.
Yea I was going to say I'm positive she doesn't actually care about it and it's just her excuse to oppose it but it is bullshit to require something that's protected intellectual property. That's just government establishing a monopoly.
I'm for small government but it means not recognizing or defending intellectual property or LLCs.
raise costs by hundreds of dollars
maybe I'm misunderstanding but this person is introducing legislation to save producers money on the scale of hundreds of dollars?
Sawstops cost like 900 dollars a unit whereas an unsafe Milwaukee or DeWalt costs like 500. If you trigger the stop on a sawstop it runs you need to spend 100 dollars and two minutes on a new brake, which is less than hospital bills by a long margin. I don't think this bill saves anyone money whatsoever.
Nvm, it turns out SawStop has agreed to open their patent up to the rest of the industry royalty free should such a law ever be passed.
https://www.sawstop.com/news/sawstop-to-dedicate-key-u-s-patent-to-the-public-upon-the-effective-date-of-a-rule-requiring-safety-technology-on-all-table-saws/
The real issue with the law is SawStop holds an exclusive patent on the concept of power tools detecting fingers and automatically stopping. They have enforced their IP right ruthlessly and as such hold a monopoly that allows them to charge a $900 premium.So I guess the problem is the US government mandating the technology without first seizing the patent and opening it up to competitors. It would be like the US government mandating airbags or seatbelts without the patent holders opening the IP up to the entire industry. Iirc Volvo holds most of the patents for a lot of automotive safety technologies but has always allowed the rest of the industry to use the tech royalty free in order to promote industry wide adoption.You're right, and this Rep. is wrong and bad for not even making the suggestion that the government could do that.
More than this, the tech will become an open standard on the effective date of the mandate, meaning anyone can manufacture them for free. The current cost vector is just licensing, your new saw will be safe and still like $500.
Did she also introduced a bipartisan bill to make those patents public?
I would support that unironically. Patents should be illegal anyway they exist solely to stifle innovation, patents for safety or health things should be double illegal.
So make the patent public, and then make it the law that everyone has to do it.
About the patents? Or about the making it a law that safety devices be installed in products?
Abolishing all patent law, I think there's a justification for it, but it really needs to justify itself into existence instead of being the default position. It's also possible that it's unjustifiable, but that discussion is 50-200 years away from happening anyway
Hey now, as a consumer I have the right to choose that the people who made my product have their fingers sliced off; I'll never meet them, I'll never personally see it happen, but it's important to me to know it happened.
The customers likes finger meat in their food. Workers like losing fingers to table saws. It's a win-win for all.
I mean it would be great if sawstop didn't have a monopoly but most people I know refuse to work on anything that isn't a sawstop.
the word "consumer" is doing world record breaking amounts of lifting here
Death to America
Actually this is kinda based.....
Consumers choice should be protected; personally I won't buy any wooden stuff unless I know the work to make it severed fingers.
I also support protection for child labor rights; I won't be happy unless I know my wooden stuff was anointed with the blood of the innocent.
If you do it all at the same time, you're not operating the saw correctly
until the patents for this tech are made public
That'd be OK with me if you forced the patents to be public sooner. I'd say just eminent domain the patent and pay the owners a fuckton for making digitsaving tech real but thats probably illegal in two dozen different ways.
