Then what happens is that the market evolves and the designers will no
longer sell the objects, they will sell the mapping files much in the way
they are now selling e-books.
In any case, we are still far and away from duplicating beyond the
simple form of an object. We are still light years away from star trek
duplicator tech or even simpler tech of "printing" out a computer chip.
(Or even something like a refrigerator).
What is more likely is that stores will have the replicators in stock
since the base cost makes zero sense for a normal consumer.
It will make sense for the instant gratification crowd who wants the
custom colors, etc.
What if you could replicate any object in the known world?
And what if that object was an original creation by someone else? How do you credit the inventor? How does that person get paid for his or her innovation?
In a smart article in Ars Technica, Peter Hanna writes that three-dimensional printers threaten to complicate the enforcement of intellectual property law.
If you’re unfamiliar with them, 3D printers use a digital file — either a master design or a scan of an existing object — to progressively deposit, much like an inkjet printer does in two dimensions, layers of material such as plastic or metal. Once the layers are complete, they are fused together, and the fabricated object is hardened.
That’s right — there’s no carving necessary.
As you might suspect, a 3D printer threatens patents, copyrights and trademarks just as much as the two-dimensional printer threatened them on the printed page.
There’s not much to argue about in terms of the actual IP owner. But what about enablers?
Like hosting digital music files, which are often studio-perfect copies of recorded audio or video, hosting 3D design files for the public to access could be a lawsuit-attracting proposition.
For now, 3D printers are far too expensive for the average person to bother with. But it’s not far-fetched to imagine your young daughter one day printing out the not-yet-released Barbie she’s been lusting over — or for you to print out that Eero Saarinen chair you’ve always wanted — for pennies on the dollar.
The next Napster? Copyright questions as 3D printing comes of age [Ars Technica]
