Breaking Copyright With 3D Printing!
3D Printing: The hype is real! Engineers, Designers, and everyday consumers are using this new fabrication process to conceptualize and create things that were once impossible. But what does this mean for the future of manufacturing and where do these 3D prints fall on the thin line between copyright infringement and fair use?
Is it possible that 3D printing will do for objects what MP3s did for music; by once again radically transforming the way we look at copyright? In this episode of Idea Channel, we sit down with Michael Weinberg, head of litigation at Shapeways, a 3D printing company located in New York to get an inside look at their facilities and discuss the how copyright is handled in the 3D printing world.
“I think that 3D printers are just one half of the IP question. What about 3D scanners? That is surely the next step. Just as 2D printing led 2D scanning, 3D scanning must be following in the wake of all the 3D printing technology, and I can’t imagine it is far behind. As scanning improves, it is feasible that we will be able to incorporate spectral analysis, x-ray, electromagnetic imaging, etc. to create perfect scans of, well, everything, and print anything. ”
“At that point, what happens to intellectual property? Can you copyright a steak or your grandmother’s recipe for egg noodles? When we can perfectly duplicate anything down to a microscopic level, what happens to invention and how is it protected?”
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