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from the printster-will-be-the-new-napster dept.
Remember Napster or Grokster? Both services allowed users to share computer files – usually digital music – that infringed the copyrights for those songs.
Now imagine that, instead of music, you could download a physical object. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie – push a button and there's the item! But that scenario is already becoming a reality. With a 3D printer, someone can download a computer file, called a computer-aided design (CAD) file, that instructs the printer to make a physical, three-dimensional object.
Because CAD files are digital, they can be shared across the internet on file-sharing services, just like movies and music. Just as digital media challenged the copyright system with rampant copyright infringement, the patent system likely will encounter widespread infringement of patented inventions through 3D printing. The problem is, however, that the patent system is even more ill-equipped to deal with this situation than copyright law was, posing a challenge to a key component of our innovation system.
If 3-D printing at home happened fast enough it would cut China off at the knees.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bootsy on Friday January 08 2016, @09:15AM
What I'm really hoping for with 3D printing is the ability to get reasonably priced spare parts for things that have broken.
Right now I have a number of things with plastic parts in them that have broken and a spare part is either not available, very expensive or impossible to track down.
Some examples include cogs in CD player drawers, various clips in a motorhome, knobs on cookers and plastic retainers on a tumble dryer.
If I could print out parts it would allow me to keep things running longer and reduce waste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2016, @02:35PM
This is where 3d printing will really shine. The DIY market. This will probably be how most people end up getting one.
Right now though it is a toy or a very expensive prototype engine. Dont get me wrong before you whip out your keyboard. It will be very cool. These things still have a long way to go. They are getting there at small incremental steps. Sintered plastic has poor lateral strength compared to injection molding. For many things that will be OK. For others not so much. Also many types of 3d printing currently need quite a bit of work after they are done cooking. Injection molding many times once you clip off the spars they are ready to go. The downside to IM is the setup cost.
I can also see patent owners doing a 'tricky'. Turning their business into a copyright one. Patents last 20 years? Well they control the files and they are copyrighted for 95 years. At that point it will be clear the patent/copyright system will need some work. But no one will do anything about it other than ignore it.