Half

A few points. Most woodworkers agree on accepting personal responsibility (at least I strongly do), and everyone believes in common sense. Patick ended his article with a statement that he understands how a jury could find for the plaintiff in this case. When a jury decides, it is the embodiment of common sense whether we think this case was wrongly decided or not.

There a couple of competing systems that urge machinery manufacturers to make machines safer: government regulation and the tort system, each of which plays a role and has its drawbacks. This court case was one private party versus another. If you don't like this system, ask yourself if you would prefer government (or maybe insurance companies) to have a larger role.

The inventor of the SawStop is also, himself, a patent lawyer. (the comments above the case are my amateur view, I am really a practising patent lawyer). I looked into trying to design around his patents a year or two ago. It will not be a trivial job. He did a very nice job getting layers of protection.