Let's back up here for a minute and explain one of the hottest patent debates going on in the 3d-printing industry today: the impact of expired patents.

让我们备份这里一分钟，并解释最热门的专利之一，今天辩论将在3d印刷业：专利到期的影响。

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In recent months, would-be plaintiffs have been fanning out across retail stores and the Internet searching for expired patent Numbers on everything from toothpaste to toilet plungers.

从牙膏直到皮搋子，近几个月里潜在原告一直在各家零售商店和互联网上遍寻标了过期专利号的任何商品。

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Lawyers for product manufacturers now fear clients are liable for up to $500 for every tube of mascara or box of garbage bags marked with an expired patent—an error that turns out to be quite common.

产品生产商的律师如今害怕他们的客户要为错误标记了过期专利号的每一管睫毛膏或者每一盒垃圾袋支付最高500美元的罚款——这种错误实际上是很常见的。

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Until its patent expired in 2008, it was ranked 20th among the 100 best selling drugs in the world.

VOA: standard.2010.03.14

In 1965 he founded Research Frontiers to exploit a related expired patent of Land's.

FORBES: As Clear As ...

According to the 2010 RBC Capital Markets study, when trial victories, settlements between drugmakers and dropped cases are combined, generic companies were able to bring their product to market before the brand-name drug's patent expired in 76 percent of the 371 drug patent suits decided from 2000 through 2009.

NPR: Court: Can Drug Companies Pay To Delay Generics?

Since the patent expired in 2000, the market has shifted to the generic version.

FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.