All-in-one water cooling systems: Asetek's ubiquitous patent expires
For many years, Asetek sued manufacturers who integrated pumps into their CPU coolers. Now the underlying patent is expiring.
Many manufacturers work with Asetek for their all-in-one water cooling systems, including Asus for the ROG Strix LC III 360 ARGB LCD shown here.
(Image: Asus)
On May 6, 2025, the most important patent of the Danish company Asetek expires: PCT/DK2005/000310 or US8240362. The patent describes a CPU cooler with an integrated pump for all-in-one water cooling systems. It is largely responsible for the small selection of cooler designs.
While there are countless variants from different manufacturers, most of them use underlying designs from Asetek. Only the Canadian company Coolit offers alternatives in larger quantities. Following patent disputes, both companies reached an out-of-court agreement on the use of the design idea. Asetek consistently dragged other manufacturers to court.
A handful of manufacturers are circumventing Asetek's patent. All they need to do is place the water pump and the cooling plate in two different chambers within the same radiator housing. This includes EK Water Blocks' EK-AIO (starting from 118,99 €). Alphacool uses a DDC-type pump on the CPU cooler in its Eisbaer models. Aqua Computer and Alphacool also offer radiators with a flange-mounted pump (starting from 177,14 €).
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20 years of service over
Asetek founder André Sloth Eriksen filed the patent PCT/DK2005/000310 on May 6, 2005. Patents usually expire after 20 years. Google has noted the date accordingly.
The patent expiry potentially facilitates innovations in the world of all-in-one or compact water cooling systems. Manufacturers no longer have to expect lawsuits if they want to try out something of their own.
Asetek wrote in its last quarterly report at the end of April that a company is said to be interested in taking over the cooler business. Various companies are also said to have knocked on the door for a partnership in cooling systems for data centers. In addition to water cooling systems, Asetek also produces peripherals for racing simulators.
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