I’ve just come across this white paper by Michael Weinberg of Public Knowledge titled “It Will Be Awesome if They Don’t Screw it Up: 3D Printing, Intellectual Property, and the Fight Over the Next Great Disruptive Technology“. Although it was written just over a year ago, it’s a fantastic read and still highly relevant as 3D printing technology continues to evolve towards the domestic market. He’s released it under a Creative Commons BY-SA license so you can read & share it from here.
It’s an interesting look at how this new technology might be seen as a threat by those that hold Intellectual Property rights over 3-dimensional items (copyright, trademarks, patents…). As 3D printers enter the domestic market it will become very difficult to enforce these kinds of rights as people start imitating and modifying objects in the privacy of their own homes. As we’ve seen in the recent copyright battles over the internet (spurred by music and film downloading) some rights holding organisations are resistant to adapting to new technologies, rather using the law as a way of clamping down on the freedoms this new technology provides to individuals.
Following suit, it is highly likely that 3D printing will spur a similar battle between public versus private rights. As Weinberg emphasises, the challenge lies in being prepared to advocate for laws that protect creativity and innovation before these vital ingredients for progress are eroded from beneath our feet.
So how close are these things to the domestic market? You can put a RepRap together for between US$500-1200 (as estimated over here and available over here). If you prefer an out-of-the-box model the biggest yet, dual-colour Makerbot: the Replicator has just been released for US$1,749.00 and these things are just going to get cheaper.
And to end on a shameless self-endorsement, to see what 3D prints can look like check out this art project (printed with an earlier version of the RepRap): Ghosts in the form of gifts.