21st Century Learning and Teaching

As 3D printing expands, consumers will increasingly print 3D objects protected by existing copyright and trademark. This article analyzes potential copyright and trademark issues for users and growing 3D printing companies, including potential risks of direct and secondary copyright and trademark infringement claims.

The Australian Law Reform Commission is conducting an inquiry into copyright law and the digital economy in 2012 and 2013.The President, Rosalind Croucher, stated: “While the Copyright Act has been amended…

Spencer Thomson commented: “3D printing exists and, without an appropriate policy framework, we run the risks of repeating mistakes in dealing with online copyright and file-sharing that are only just now being addressed a decade on.”

Explore how the principles behind open source--collaboration, transparency, and rapid prototyping--are proven catalysts for innovation.

Basic Copyright Principles

The Law. Copyright laws protect original works of authorship. The Copyright Act gives the owner of a copyright the exclusive right to do and authorize others to do certain things in regard to a copyrighted work, including: make copies, distribute the work, display or perform the work publicly, and create derivative works. These exclusive rights are subject to only limited exceptions. In academia, the five major exceptions to the copyright owner's exclusive rights are: fair use, the face-to-face teaching exception, the distance-learning exception (codified in the 2002 TEACH Act), the first-sale doctrine, and the library and archives exception. Note that there is no over-arching copyright exception for academic uses; academic journals and text publishers expect royalties for use of their content.

Learn more:

- https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/what-you-should-know-about-copyright/

 This Article shows how the maturing technology of three-dimensional printing can be used to construct an enforceable open hardware license. Open hardware lacks the legal tools which allow the easy implementation of enforceable open source software licenses. As such, existing licenses cannot successfully implement open hardware principles. The author proposes the “Three-Dimensional Printing Open License” (the “TDPL”). The TDPL draws on the unique characteristics of three-dimensional printing to construct a license that incorporates enforceable documentation, attribution and copyleft provisions. As the technology of three dimensional printing improves and is gradually integrated into a broad range of industries, the scope of the license’s application will increase.