An article discusses infringing property rights when 3D printing.
Industry Week reported that it is now not so expensive to manufacture products made using 3D printers and that this technology allows “many products that traditionally have been made of multiple components to be manufactured as a single article” and commercialised. The benefits of 3D printing are now being recognised and companies like Aerospace are manufacturing parts for engines while car companies are making grills and parts for exhausts not to mention health care companies creating prosthesis and body parts.
There is, though, a potential to “infringe intellectual property rights” and this is a concern for inventors as these printers are now available to all. The article noted that there is now the ability for individuals or businesses to duplicate or copy a product and that this sometimes done without the knowledge of the “innovative company” which has spent considerable time and money to “design and develop the product”.
The way forward for these companies and individuals will be for them to “take appropriate steps to protect their IP rights” which “may deter future infringements” as well as enforce the IP rights of individuals and businesses in the 3D printing sector.