Why copyright law won’t be able to keep up with the crazy world of 3D printing

If you’re trying to understand how existing intellectual property law applies to 3D printing, let me save you some time: It’s a complete mess, writes Ricardo Bilton of VentureBeat, in a must-read article on the subject.

From top to bottom, 3D printing raises more legal questions than it answers. There are lots of companies making 3D printing hardware, even more companies offering online repositories of 3D designs, plenty of services that will print things for you, and almost zero precedent for disputes among them. From a legal standpoint, 3D printing is the Wild West.

While that may sound liberating for such a young industry, it’s also potentially dangerous. There’s a very real chance that the lack of any regulation could be replaced with bad regulation. And that could have some dire effects on the whole industry.

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