An anonymous reader writes
Citing a report from the Gartner Group estimating $100 billion in intellectual property losses within five years, Joshua Greenbaum warns of "the threat of a major surge in counterfeiting" as cheap 3-D printers get more sophisticated materials. Writing for Wired, Greenbaum argues that preventing counterfeiting "promises to be a growth market," and suggests that besides updating IP laws, possible solutions include nanomaterials for "watermarking" authentic copies or even the regulation of 3-D printing materials. Major retailers like Amazon are already offering 3-D print-on-demand products — though right now their selection is mostly limited to novelties like customized bobbleheads and Christmas ornaments shaped like cannabis leaves. Apropos: Smithonian Magazine has an article that makes a good companion piece to this one on the
long political history of the copy machine, which raised many of the same issues being rediscovered in the context of 3-D printing.
Given what people use them for, I'd say no.
By RogueWarrior65
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2015-Feb-21 10:36
• Score: 3
• Thread
Who cares if somebody rips off somebody else's cellphone case design?