SolidWorks 2018 IP Protection

[Harrison_Johnson]

Hello,

I need to send a Pack & Go to a client, however, I want to keep my work to myself. The goal is to send the pack & go with all the solid bodies as "imported" rather than sending the solidparts with all the details. If I use a speedpak, this doesn't allow the client to click different bodies and only shows the assembly as a whole.

How do I save the assembly as all solid bodies with no extra info?
Do you have an SOP to save your IP or work?

Thansk,
Harrison J.

[zwei]

Hello,

I need to send a Pack & Go to a client, however, I want to keep my work to myself. The goal is to send the pack & go with all the solid bodies as "imported" rather than sending the solidparts with all the details. If I use a speedpak, this doesn't allow the client to click different bodies and only shows the assembly as a whole.

How do I save the assembly as all solid bodies with no extra info?
Do you have an SOP to save your IP or work?

Thansk,
Harrison J.

Can you just send the file as neutral file such as STEP/Parasolid?
When they import the file it will show as imported body

[Harrison_Johnson]

Can you just send the file as neutral file such as STEP/Parasolid?
When they import the file it will show as imported body

Zhen-Wei,

For this specific project we want to keep in within SW 2018 and not in STP or Parasolid files. That is usually my SOP when sending to a machinist, I save my SLDPRT to a STP and call it a day. This time around I want to keep the assembly in SW with all the bodies, just not showing how it was all drawn/made.

-H.

[zwei]

Zhen-Wei,

For this specific project we want to keep in within SW 2018 and not in STP or Parasolid files. That is usually my SOP when sending to a machinist, I save my SLDPRT to a STP and call it a day. This time around I want to keep the assembly in SW with all the bodies, just not showing how it was all drawn/made.

-H.

Hmm not sure whether i am understanding it correctly...

You want:
1. The file to be in SOLIDWORK 2018 format
2. The file to be showing a body without feature history....

Cant you just import the STEP into your SOLIDWORKS 2018 and do a pack and go from there?

What about saving the assembly as a single part? This will convert everything to dumb solid too

[berg_lauritz]

Is this an issue from the client side? If he uses 3D Interconnect it should show all of the information from the assembly.

[matt]

How about use Insert Part. That gives you a part that has no features, so it looks imported, but you can link it to the source files and update it if you want to.

[HerrTick]

Save as --> Part

[Alin]

Hello,

If I use a speedpak, this doesn't allow the client to click different bodies and only shows the assembly as a whole.

If he opens your SpeedPak assembly in Large Design Review mode he/she can click on any edge or face and could also measure anything.

[Ry-guy]

Hello,

I need to send a Pack & Go to a client, however, I want to keep my work to myself. The goal is to send the pack & go with all the solid bodies as "imported" rather than sending the solidparts with all the details. If I use a speedpak, this doesn't allow the client to click different bodies and only shows the assembly as a whole.

How do I save the assembly as all solid bodies with no extra info?
Do you have an SOP to save your IP or work?

Thansk,
Harrison J.

Tihs may sound dumb but let's start here. What are you contractually providing to your customer and what are their expectations of deliverables? Then we can all provide options for you.
But I am will you 100%. I never understood companies giving away their business to their customers by providing native SW files and drawings..to stay in business you require the change orders!
My opinion for what's worth.

[Frederick_Law]

This time around I want to keep the assembly in SW with all the bodies, just not showing how it was all drawn/made.

Save the assembly as STEP and all bodies are in the STEP.
When import the STEP, client can choice to import as one part or assembly with all the parts.

If you don't when client to have assembly, save the assembly as part first then save it as STEP.

[bentlybobcat]

Hello,

I need to send a Pack & Go to a client, however, I want to keep my work to myself. The goal is to send the pack & go with all the solid bodies as "imported" rather than sending the solidparts with all the details. If I use a speedpak, this doesn't allow the client to click different bodies and only shows the assembly as a whole.

How do I save the assembly as all solid bodies with no extra info?
Do you have an SOP to save your IP or work?

Thansk,
Harrison J.

What did they pay for? This is the crucial question.

Talk to your commercial manager and see what you are contractually obligated to deliver. No more, and no less.

Bently

[MJuric]

What did they pay for? This is the crucial question.

Talk to your commercial manager and see what you are contractually obligated to deliver. No more, and no less.

Bently

^^^^This. Furthermore all this should be spelled out in the quote and agreed upon before the PO. We have customer that demand they have IP control. This pretty much means we design it but can't ever really use that design again. We charge extra for that. On the other hand we have other customers that don't care if we retain the IP. Some of those designs end up turning into additional products for us or get incorporated into existing designs as "Upgrades" and improvements. We generally only send "Dumb models", STEP etc and a BOM that generally only has our part numbers for those customers. They need a part, they call us.

[DennisD]

^^^^This. Furthermore all this should be spelled out in the quote and agreed upon before the PO. We have customer that demand they have IP control. This pretty much means we design it but can't ever really use that design again. We charge extra for that. On the other hand we have other customers that don't care if we retain the IP. Some of those designs end up turning into additional products for us or get incorporated into existing designs as "Upgrades" and improvements. We generally only send "Dumb models", STEP etc and a BOM that generally only has our part numbers for those customers. They need a part, they call us.

If a company wants to retain the IP that means the rights to it are theirs, i.e., the right to patent it (or swear you to secrecy for the trade secret route). However, if anyone at your company is an "inventor" of any part of the IP then they must be named on the patent. If they aren't then the patent can be disputed and invalidated. That does not carry any financial obligation of the IP holder to the inventors in your company, but at least the inventors get their due recognition on the patents. We learned to spell this out in our contracts just so it was clear up front and there were no misunderstandings later. BT;DT.

[MJuric]

If a company wants to retain the IP that means the rights to it are theirs, i.e., the right to patent it (or swear you to secrecy for the trade secret route). However, if anyone at your company is an "inventor" of any part of the IP then they must be named on the patent. If they aren't then the patent can be disputed and invalidated. That does not carry any financial obligation of the IP holder to the inventors in your company, but at least the inventors get their due recognition on the patents. We learned to spell this out in our contracts just so it was clear up front and there were no misunderstandings later. BT;DT.

Yeah, there are all sorts of ins and outs to that aspect of a contract. That's where all the attorneys come in and I let them do what they need to do and just make sure that my proposals have all the necessary comments notes and agreements they all draw up in it

[Bradfordzzz]

Zhen-Wei,

For this specific project we want to keep in within SW 2018 and not in STP or Parasolid files. That is usually my SOP when sending to a machinist, I save my SLDPRT to a STP and call it a day. This time around I want to keep the assembly in SW with all the bodies, just not showing how it was all drawn/made.

-H.

Save assembly as a Parasolid.
open that Parasolid in a new Solidworks session and save. This makes a Solidworks assembly as dumb solids.
then you can send the customer a Solidworks assembly, with no creation information. Every part will just have Imported Bodies.


-Mark

[AlexLachance]

Save assembly as part would do the same as creating a step and then importing it. IMO that is what would best fit your need.