Copyright Laws and 3-D Printing.

If you look at many of my posts you will see that I print out many different things using a 3-d printer. So the idea that laws maybe passed in the future to keep me from doing this is a subject that I am very much interested in. Michael Weinberg posted a white paper on this subject and has done a far better job of explaining this issue than I could ever do.



"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."


We have a very interesting discussion thread on this very topic going on in the KC Fabricators Google group.