Does 3D Printing Mean the End of Intellectual Property Protection?

"IP will be ignored and it will be impossible or impractical to enforce," said John Hornick, an IP attorney with Finnegan, Henderson, Farbow, Garrett & Dunner LLP in New York. "Everything will change when you can make anything."

The onslaught against IP will begin with the toy industry, Hornick said.

Kids will be able to access CAD files containing the design specifications of their favorite toys on peer-to-peer sites such as Pirate Bay. Or they may use scanning technology in devices like Microsoft's Kinect motion sensor, to scan an object, load it into a CAD file and then onto a 3D printer, and voila, a toy is duplicated to exacting specification.

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Keywords: 3D printing legality, IP protection, 3D printing litigation, value chain, value chain IT