The California legislature is considering a bill that would require all new table saws sold in the state to be equipped with something called “injury mitigation technology”. The basic idea behind this technology is that the saw will stop, instantly, whenever it encounters human flesh (or something like human flesh, but more on that later).
That sounds like a good idea if you’re not a libertarian like me, right? Who can be opposed to protecting fingers?
Well, the problem is that there’s only one company that makes saws equipped with “injury mitigation technology”, SD3, who markets the SawStop.
And the inventor of this technology holds 90 patents on it. By the way, he’s also a patent attorney. So no other company can use this technology without paying for the patents.
And the way the SawStop works is that it basically fires a stop into the blade, which kills the rotation almost instantly. However, every time the SawStop goes off, you’re looking at a $175 replacement bill for the blade and other parts of the device.
And because of the way the SawStop works, it can be fired even without fingers being present; for example, if the wood is wet. (The wisdom of cutting wet wood is debatable, of course.)
Overlawyered has been covering the SawStop, and attempts to make it mandatory for table saws. It is interesting to see the LAT pick up on this issue.
My take?
- Stupidity should hurt.
- If the government wants to make it mandatory on table saws, fine; let them do so after the patents expire, or require the inventor to license the patents for free. After all, what’s more important; safety, or money? Come to think of it, if he was really concerned with safety, he’d already have made this offer to saw makers. Right now, this looks like rent-seeking.