IPR

There are no community licenses for 3D content. The problem is that current IP laws only offer limited protection for 3D content. If you cannot claim ownership of a design, you cannot license it to others.

A massive protest against SOPA was launched on the Internet during the congressional hearings. The protest was successful and the passing was postponed. But it also received criticism from politicians. Just saying NO is not helping. They wondered how the text should be changed to make it acceptable for the Internet community. I think it is a valid criticism.

Up until now, most fan art was in the form of pictures, writing or video. With 3D printing a whole new type of fan art is emerging. Is this allowed?

Copyright does not attach itself to objects under US copyright law. When the 3D model is not a one-to-one copy of the original 3D model file, copyright does not play a role in 3D printing. Though there are two exceptions, which I would like to highlight in this post.

A form or function cannot be copyrighted and only patterns on objects can fall under copyright. This means that the Safe Harbor provision of the DMCA cannot be applied to 3D models. The challenge of applying copyright on 3D models is a problem for everyone - service providers and creators alike.

Some people ask me what keeps me up at night. One of the answers is Intellectual Property and personal fabrication. At the moment we get about one DMCA Content Notice Take Down request a week at Shapeways.