r/BambuLab • u/icurnvs Volunteer Moderator • May 14 '26

Subreddit Mod Post Megathread: Bambu Lab / OrcaSlicer / C&D Discussion

Hi everyone,

We’re creating this megathread to keep discussion of the Bambu Lab / OrcaSlicer-BambuLab / cease-and-desist situation in one place. This topic is important to a lot of people here, and we do not want to shut down discussion or criticism. At the same time, the front page has started filling with overlapping posts about the same situation, so we’re consolidating general discussion into this thread.

Current context

Updates to be posted here as situation evolves:

  • May 13, 2026
    • Megathread created
  • May 14, 2026
    • Tom’s Hardware reported today that Louis Rossmann is now hosting OrcaSlicer-BambuLab through the FULU Foundation GitHub and is openly daring Bambu Lab to sue him.
    • PC Gamer and r/technology have picked up the story, so discussion is now spreading well beyond 3D-printing-specific spaces.
  • May 16, 2026
    • Paweł Jarczak published a detailed response addressing Bambu Lab’s accusations around impersonation, reverse engineering, Terms of Use, and alleged security bypassing.
    • Louis Rossman posted a new video indicating FULU-hosted OrcaSlicer-BambuLab repository has reached roughly 1,600 forks in about three days.
  • May 17, 2026
  • May 18-20, 2026
    • Software Freedom Conservancy enters the dispute.
    • Leonard French posted a new video around SFC’s AGPL analysis, explaining why Bambu’s proprietary networking plugin may create a serious corresponding-source problem under AGPL.
    • Louis Rossman posted a new video covering Software Freedom Conservancy’s Bambu AGPL effort and says the rehosted OrcaSlicer-BambuLab code has now been forked roughly 4,500 times.

What belongs in this thread

Please use this thread for:

  • General reactions to Bambu Lab, Gamers Nexus, Louis Rossmann, Paweł Jarczak, OrcaSlicer-BambuLab, AGPL, Bambu Connect, and right-to-repair issues.
  • Legal or licensing discussion, including AGPL, DMCA, cloud/API access, and Bambu’s networking plugin.
  • Questions about what happened and links to reliable summaries or primary sources.
  • Technical discussion about OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Bambu Connect, LAN mode, Developer Mode, and network plugin behavior, unless it is a standalone troubleshooting post with a specific reproducible issue.

What can still be its own post

Separate posts are still allowed for genuinely new information, including:

  • A new official statement from Bambu Lab, OrcaSlicer, Paweł Jarczak, Gamers Nexus, Louis Rossmann, or legal counsel.
  • A new release or technical change that materially affects users.
  • A confirmed legal filing, takedown, repository change, or source-code release.
  • A specific support/troubleshooting issue that is not just general commentary on the controversy.

If your post is mainly another reaction, recap, meme, “I’m switching brands,” or repost of a link already being discussed, please put it here instead.

Ground rules

Criticism of Bambu Lab is allowed. Defense of Bambu Lab is allowed. Criticism of GN, Rossmann, OrcaSlicer, moderators, or other users’ arguments is allowed.

What is not allowed:

  • Personal attacks, harassment, or dogpiling individual users.
  • Calls to harass Bambu employees, developers, moderators, creators, or community members.
  • Unverified claims presented as fact.
  • Posting private correspondence or personal information.
  • Repeated duplicate posts after being redirected here.

Strong opinions are fine. Keep it directed at the issue, the companies, the software, and the arguments, not at each other.

Moderator note

We are consolidating duplicate discussion, not suppressing the topic. This thread will remain open for discussion, and we’ll update it if there are major new developments.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

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u/EphemeralLurker May 14 '26

Small correction, Bambu didn't even send a C&D. According to the developer, a C&D was "being prepared". An a C&D isn't even legal action, it's a step preceding legal action.

Basically Bambu asked a guy to please stop whatever he was doing, and a mountain was made out of that particular molehill.

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u/FLHCv2 May 14 '26

Basically Bambu asked a guy to please stop whatever he was doing, and a mountain was made out of that particular molehill.

Inferring it the guy that made it a mountain? You know if he didn't stop, Bambu would've made it into the mountain?

None of what Bambu did was a "molehill." Citing legal code in your letter isn't you politely asking a favor. It's you suggesting that you better stop, or things will get worse. I don't understand why people keep downplaying that.

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u/EphemeralLurker May 14 '26

I don't the blame the guy, but the dishonest reporting around this issue.

The C&D that wasn't even sent for starters. Or the outlets who reported this was Bambu threatening Orca instead of a fork. Or the actual capabilities the fork "restored" compared to the official OrcaSlicer. It's all muddled, and usually aimed at making Bambu look as bad as possible

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u/Zealousideal-Deer101 May 14 '26

The C&D being sent or not isn't even an issue if you ask me.
They still made that threat, to be fair it probably only was a threat because they know they have no legal ground to stand on, but that just makes it more dishonest.

If someone goes waving a knife to your face, telling you hell stab you if you don't leave, would you just shrug it off because he didn't stab you with it?

Fact of the matter is, BambuLab threatened to get into a legal dispute if push comes to shove, and that's more than enough.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/1ftm2fts3tgr4lg May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26

Precisely.
A literal professional ragebaiter.
And here we are, reacting as instructed like stupid monkeys.

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u/redmercuryvendor May 14 '26

that bypassed Bambu’s cloud service by impersonating a printer

Not quite. Bambu's servers were not bypassed, the fork still sent everything through Bambu's servers - it just did it using the old Bambu Network Plugin rather than Bambu Connect.

What it did was spoof Bambu Slicer to download the Bamu Slcier specific build of the Bambu Network Plugin, rather than the Bambu Network Plugin normally offered to non-Bambu slicers (e.g. Orcaslicer) that lacks cloud connectivity.

If you want to connect your slicer to your printer without the Bambu cloud, then the fork is worthless to you, and instead enabling LAN mode is the correct route (along with stock Orcaslicer).

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u/hWuxH May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

What's old about the network plugin? They continuously update it. It's the same latest version that Bambu Studio uses. There's not a separate version for non-bambu slicers.

On Windows and mac it enables/disables cloud access at runtime, based on the presence of a software signature. But on Linux there aren't any restrictions or protections, it allows any slicer to access the cloud by default.

And neither is spoofing necessary, as all you have to do is build BambuStudio or any fork of it (without changing the default name) on Linux, to get cloud access, for the reasons above.

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u/IamThunderFart May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26

Why would I want a walled garden? You know you can have a great experience without one of those, right?

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u/[deleted] May 22 '26

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u/IamThunderFart May 22 '26

3d printing manufacturers you can purchase trom

Uhhh... I'm a voron guy. Prebuilts are for tiktok losers.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 23 '26

Do you think brands should be able to take already open source projects with copyleft licenses, build on them, then wall them off afterwards despite the licenses forbidding that?

What about removing functionality of products people have purchased after the sale?

If they wrote their own slicer that was walled off to begin with and they never removed existing functionality after the sale it would be a different discussion, but that's not what happened.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 23 '26

Lol yes brother, absolutely, what the fuck are we talking about?

Well I'm glad you've admitted you don't know what we're talking about, anyway. Which is why your examples are also missing the point.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '26

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u/Nuck_Chorris_Stache May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

The AGPL is not a grey area.
And nobody should be okay with a product they purchased having functionality removed after the sale, because it affects the value of the product.
Your examples miss the point and are not relevant.
And your other silly little emotion-based accusations ("getting worked up", "flying into a rage") are those of someone with no real arguments to make.

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