RE: 3D Printing

This is IMO not different from buying a building plan for a house or
ship from an architect or designer, and building the object yourself.
You buy the design and the right to implement it (most likely for one
instance) - no-one would argue your home would belong to the architect.
This analogy with the 3D printing as John scetched below goes as far as
that an architect might impose contractual limitations to the changes
you may make to his design.

Vince

-----Original Message-----
From: John Erickson [mailto:john_erickson@hplb.hpl.hp.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 4:23 PM
To: www-drm@w3.org
Subject: Re: 3D Printing


Rigo wrote:
> This is really interesting. It show's that the right does not follow 
> the materialization. In fact, copyright just works normally here, as 
> there is a monopoly to produce instances. Once produced, the tangible 
> instances are sold and property of the new owner, that has the right 
> to re-sell the instance, destroy it or whatever...

JSE: Pretty interesting new application of DRM technology, if you think
about it --- applying it to the controlled rendering of a 3D model. For
example, only those who are authorized (for example, have paid) to
physically render the model can do so.

Once rendered, of course, the usual rules over physical things apply.
Note, however, that this does not necessarily mean that the "owner" of
the property won't or can't claim rights, even ownership in the rendered
property. I could imagine that the rendering could be done under
contractual terms that claim a restriction on the renderee's right to
sale, for example. Used within an organization, I would see claims of
trade secret over the rendered property --- the authorized holder of the
rendered property, being under obligation to their corporation, would be
legally restricted in what they could do with the property.

So 3D rendering would not necessarily be the free-for-all that you might
imagine.

John

PS: I've just finished reading Lawrence Lessig's latest, "The Future of
Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World." So I'm not
suggesting that the rules I desribe above are desireable, simply
possible and likely; market leaders will always apply pressure to
protect their monopolistic positions, and this includes lobbying for new
forms of intellectual property and other market protections...

| John S. Erickson, Ph.D.
| Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
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Received on Wednesday, 27 March 2002 03:52:15 UTC