[ExI] Paper: It Will Be Awesome if They Don’t Screw it Up: 3D Printing, Intellectual Property, and the Fight Over the Next Great Disruptive Technology

[Bryan Bishop]

It Will Be Awesome if They Don’t Screw it Up: 3D Printing, Intellectual
Property, and the Fight Over the Next Great Disruptive Technology
pdf:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/files/docs/3DPrintingPaperPublicKnowledge.pdf
http://www.publicknowledge.org/files/docs/3DPrintingPaperPublicKnowledge.pdf
author: Michael Weinberg

"""
The next great technological disruption is brewing just out of sight. In
small workshops, and faceless office parks, and garages, and basements,
revolutionaries are tinkering with machines that can turn digital bits into
physical atoms. The machines can download plans for a wrench from the
Internet and print out a real, working wrench. Users design their own
jewelry, gears, brackets, and toys with a computer program, and use their
machines to create real jewelry, gears, brackets, and toys.

These machines, generically known as 3D printers, are not imported from the
future or the stuff of science fiction. Home versions, imperfect but real,
can be had for around $1,000. Every day they get better, and move closer to
the mainstream.

In many ways, today’s 3D printing community resembles the personal computing
community of the early 1990s. They are a relatively small, technically
proficient group, all intrigued by the potential of a great new technology.
They tinker with their machines, share their discoveries and creations, and
are more focused on what is possible than on what happens after they achieve
it. They also benefit from following the personal computer revolution: the
connective power of the Internet lets them share, innovate, and communicate
much faster than the Homebrew Computer Club could have ever imagined.

The personal computer revolution also casts light on some potential pitfalls
that may be in store for the growth of 3D printing. When entrenched
interests began to understand just how disruptive personal computing could
be (especially massively networked personal computing) they organized in
Washington, D.C. to protect their incumbent power. Rallying under the banner
of combating piracy and theft, these interests pushed through laws like the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that made it harder to use computers
in new and innovative ways. In response, the general public learned
once-obscure terms like “fair use” and worked hard to defend their ability
to discuss, create, and innovate. Unfortunately, this great public awakening
came after Congress had already passed its restrictive laws.

Of course, computers were not the first time that incumbents welcomed new
technologies by attempting to restrict them. The arrival of the printing
press resulted in new censorship and licensing laws designed to slow the
spread of information. The music industry claimed that home taping would
destroy it. And, perhaps most memorably, the movie industry compared the VCR
to the Boston Strangler preying on a woman home alone.

One of the goals of this whitepaper is to prepare the 3D printing community,
and the public at large, before incumbents try to cripple 3D printing with
restrictive intellectual property laws. By understanding how intellectual
property law relates to 3D printing, and how changes might impact 3D
printing’s future, this time we will be ready when incumbents come calling
to Congress.
"""

- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
1 512 203 0507
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