Voxeldance, an all-in-one Additive Manufacturing software solution provider, is at the center of several accusations of intellectual property theft. Voxeldance products are Voxeldance Additive aimed at industrial users, such as aerospace and defense, plus Voxeldance Tango, a slicing tool for resin 3D printers used by hobbyists and others.The Chinese software company received a visit from the German Federal Customs Service, abbreviated to Zoll, during the formnext trade show. According to one Formnext attendee, soon after the show [started], engineers for nTop and Materialise were on the [Voxeldance] booth asking questions and getting the full uncensored intro to the product by the Voxeldance booth jockeys. Moments later phone calls were made.A few hours later, taxis from the airport arrive transporting lawyers from both companies and Zoll officers (German Federal Customs) who immediately took away a number of Voxeldance representatives, and Messago started to tear down the booth well before the event had finished. Other [Voxeldance] staff hightailed to the airport.Valerie Chianuri, General Counsel, nTop confirmed to 3D Printing Industry that nTop is pursuing legal action against VoxelDance as it relates to its activities at Formnext and beyond. As the case is still in progress Chianuri stated nTop cannot comment on any of the specifics around this, what I can say is that we remain focused on delivering the best computational design software with our innovative new technology as the key enabler. Thus, we take our Intellectual Property (IP) very seriously.The German Customs Service, known as the Bundeszollverwaltung, plays a pivotal role in enforcing intellectual property rights within Germany. A key component of this service is the Zollkriminalamt (ZKA), or Customs Investigation Bureau, which investigates and prevents serious customs-related crimes, including those involving intellectual property violations. Interestingly, Formnext show organizers also have a dedicated, permanent police station within the exhibition grounds, something that is relatively uncommon among trade show organizers.Bradley Rothenberg nTop CEO and an optomized impeller. Photo by Michael Petch.Voxeldance and Autodesk Netfabb source codeWhile investigations into the use of nTop and Materialise source code related to simulation, optimization, and model design proceed, speculation has grown around the heritage of Voxeldances 3D printing software.According to a former Voxeldance executive, Voxeldance was using source code from elsewhere as early as 2021.Robert Yusin served as Voxeldances Chief Operating Officer in 2021; previously and until 2017, he worked for Autodesk as a director of sales and business development with a particular focus on the Asian markets.In November 2017, Yusin became part of the co-founding team of Oqton, which included ex-Autodesk VP Samir Hanna, and the companys former CEO Carl Bass as a board member. Oqtons AI-powered software raised a series A of $40 million in 2021, and later that year Oqton was acquired by 3D Systems for $180 million.Yusin left Oqton in October 2020 after three years. His appointment as Voxeldance COO was announced in May 2021, it would not be a lengthy tenure, and by September of 2021 he had a new role. Moving to generative design software provider ParaMatters Yusin took the Chairman and CEO positions; just over a year later, in August 2022, we reported Carbons acquisition of ParaMatters. Since June 2023, Yusin has served as CEO of Optomec, developers of the metal additive Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) and Aerosol Jet systems for 3D printed electronics.I asked Yusin about the recent accusations of intellectual property theft stemming from Voxeldances appearance at Formnext. During our exchange Yusin stated that the source code from Autodesks Netfabb was for sure used by Voxeldance. When asked about Voxeldances reaction to Yusins raising this issue, he told me the company avoided the topic and pretended not to address the issues. Regarding how he could discern the Netfabb code was used, I sold the netfabb product, and in [their] version at the time [there] were features only unique to what Autodesk had put in the product. Yusin says learning of these practices at Voxeldance is why he left the company. In a public statement, Yusin has since declared, I never in my role had access to any code, the only folks that have access to sources code would be development not myself.3D Printing Industry has reached out to Voxeldance CEO Chaoxin Zhang several times for comment on the allegations and will update readers accordingly once a response is received.As at the time of publication, 3DPI has been unable to confirm with Messago the actions taken by the Formnext show organizer.If you have information regarding this story or other news in the 3D printing industry, please get in touch.What does thefuture of 3D printinghold?What near-term3D printing trendshave been highlighted by industry experts?Subscribe to the3D Printing Industry newsletterto keep up to date with the latest 3D printing news.You can also follow us onTwitter, like ourFacebookpage, and subscribe to the3D Printing Industry Youtubechannel to access more exclusive content.Featured image shows Voxeldance Additive. Image via Voxeldance.