On the last day of a European machine tool exhibit, before the turn of the millennium, I stumbled onto a singly manned exhibit of a water jet laser-assisted drilling machine producing near-perfect deep holes in turbine blade metals. The exhibitor, Bernold Richerzhagen, from an unknown-to-me Swiss startup Synova SA (Duillier, Switzerland), got my attention. And being one of the last visitors that day, Bernold, as a natural process developer, took advantage of my editorial position and gave me the full-blown presentation. He convinced me the technology he developed as a PhD student at the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was going to be a driving force in growing laser processing as a cost-effective manufacturing tool.
I invited Bernold to contribute an article on this subject in an issue of Industrial Laser Solutions, which he did: “Water-guided laser processing," published in the November 1997 issue (pages 8–10). From that random meeting came a relationship, sustained over many years. Water jet-assisted laser micromachining or, as he called it, the Laser Microjet Machine may not have ‘revolutionized’ drilling technology, but it created an important niche, as evidenced by another half-dozen articles he contributed to Industrial Laser Solutions and his participation in several conferences I chaired, when I needed an interesting speaker.
So why, you ask, this reminiscence? First consider the history of this application, recalling statements made often by me and another laser pioneer, Bill Shiner: good applications have a life of their own and in time find their rightful place in the market. And, persistence can pay off—Bernold Richerzhagen had that quality. He lobbied long and hard for his process development.
Proof of this is a news item that recently arrived in my daily emails—Synova SA filed suit against Avonisys AG (Zug, Switzerland) and its board members (all former employees of Synova) with the Swiss Federal Patent Court, because it believed that Avonisys infringes the Swiss part of the EP 1 833 636 B1. The defendants filed a counterclaim. Note that Industrial Laser Solutions has no comment on this decision; our interest is solely in the history of the application.
The Patent Court has issued a decision, not yet final and against which Synova is appealing. The judgement states that:
1. Synova’s patent EP 1 833 636 H1, which was limited during the proceedings, is valid—contrary to the counterclaim of Avonisys;
2. This patent is not infringed, because the laser head “Avonisys Laser Micro Milling” does not provide the same technical effect as the laser head protected by Synova’s patent;
3. Some communication concerning the proceedings by Synova constituted an act of unfair competition.
Synova is convinced that the denial of Avonisys’ patent infringement and the assessment of Synova’s communication violates federal law and has filed an appeal with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on May 11, 2021, and trusts that the Supreme Court will allow the appeal and either refer the matter back to the lower instance for reconsideration or adjudicate for patent infringement by Avonisys itself.
Synova manufactures advanced laser cutting systems that incorporate its proprietary water jet-guided laser technology (Laser MicroJet). Customers benefit from significant yield and improved cutting quality as well as enhanced capabilities for precision machining a wide range of materials, as shown on the website: www.synova.ch.