It will be 15 seconds before a work around happens.
It is not enough to have the patent since it will not take much effort to simply scan and duplicate.
a 3d photocopier.
planned obsolencence is in danger since parts will no longer be subject to being retired.
Not quite that simple, each generation of scan will lose some precision, on top of that, some parts will warp as they are built, and the designer will make the as-drawn part with the warp reversed to end up with a net accurate part.
Of course knowing that, and knowing what compensating shape to design in should be free, right?