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Intellectual Property Law Commons

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Infringement

2013

Daniel Harris Brean

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Full-Text Articles in Intellectual Property Law

Asserting Patents To Combat Infringement Via 3d Printing: It's No "Use", Daniel Harris Brean Dec 2012

Asserting Patents To Combat Infringement Via 3d Printing: It's No "Use", Daniel Harris Brean

Daniel Harris Brean

Three-dimensional ("3D") printing technology, which enables physical objects to be "printed" as easily as words can be printed on a page, is rapidly moving from industrial settings into consumers' homes. The advent of consumer grade 3D printers fundamentally alters the traditional allocation of manufacturing infrastructure and sales activity. No longer do manufacturers need to make, sell, and ship physical products in their physical states. Rather, consumers may download digital representations of products over the Internet for printing in the comfort their own homes. For products sold in this fashion that are patented, this presents difficult hurdles to enforcement against infringers. …