this question comes up on a lot of the "printer rage" threads <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...> and my recollection of the majority of the substantial discussions seem to imply that there are patents which are a major obstacle to any such effort, above and beyond the general "hardware development is its own specialization" problem
Now, what I don't know (and don't recall seeing) is whether that's true of every jurisdiction or if it's just a US-centric problem and the EU could have their revenge by having an open printer that US consumers couldn't buy :-/
I thought patents were 20 years. At the time, in the early 2000s, I thought the HP Laserjet 4000 was a tank. Is there any reason someone would be prevented from replicating a circa 2003 model printer?
Now, what I don't know (and don't recall seeing) is whether that's true of every jurisdiction or if it's just a US-centric problem and the EU could have their revenge by having an open printer that US consumers couldn't buy :-/