Quote:
Originally Posted by sclitheroe
My prediction:
The 3D printer market will implode once people start using 3D Printers to pirate 3D Printers, eliminating all sales and driving the manufacturers out of business.
All we'll have left are copies of copies of copies of printers, which will eventually cease to function correctly.
I kid of course, but the ramifications for intellectual property are staggering, and I don't know how you deal with them. How can Lego, as one simple example, possibly hope to survive in a world with pervasive 3D printer access? |
Actually, that's exactly how the whole system is supposed to work! One of the first big DIY 3D printers was the reprap, which was all about self-replication: the goal was a machine that could completely self-replicate itself. It still hasn't completely achieved that goal, but it's a crucial concept. Even with a system like Makerbot, you'll find Thingiverse is full of improvements to their original design that people have come up with and printed themselves, and Makerbot encourages that sort of innovation (if people open-source their innovations, then Makerbot can incorporate them back into the core design).
But yes, you're right about the intellectual copyright ramifications. Is it acceptable to reprint a part for a broken device that you own, if the replacement part is unavailable? What about if the replacement part is available, but ridiculously overpriced? What about designing your own parts to work with lego, that are not exactly duplicating any functionality of existing lego (there are, for example, kits that interconnect lego pieces to a whole bunch of other toys and building systems). I'm actually surprised that there haven't been any really major intellectual copyright cases involving the 3D printing community, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.