Intellectual Property Rights In The Era Of 3D Printing And AI
- IJLLR Journal
- Aug 15
- 2 min read
Bhumika Rathore, Faculty of Law, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
1. Introduction
An outline of the effects of AI and 3D printing on the IPR system is given in the introduction. The industry has seen revolutionary changes as a result of recent developments in 3D printing and artificial intelligence. By piling material on top of one another until the entire thing is formed, 3D printing is a procedure that produces three-dimensional objects. Another name for it is additive manufacturing. Conversely, artificial intelligence can be defined in a variety of ways, but for the sake of this discussion, it can be understood as intelligent machine activity. It is quite expected that there will be widespread use and availability of the items originating from these technologies given their valuable implications and possibilities. There will be significant effects on intellectual property rights at this point. There will be both the production of new products and the replication of current ones due to the growing use and accessibility of 3D printing and AI products. This will make it unclear for the IP owners of these items if their rights have been violated and it will also make it unclear for aspiring inventors whether they can create a product without violating the rights of others.
2. Impact of 3D Printing on Intellectual Property Rights
A three-dimensional item is produced by the process of layer-by-layer addition of material in 3D printing. It is sometimes referred to as additive manufacturing, and prototyping is one of its common uses. In the past ten years, 3D printing has started to replace traditional prototyping in a variety of industries, including toys, fashion, aerospace, and automotive, with the aim of producing finished goods. Manufacturers fear widespread product counterfeiting as the industry moves from prototyping to mass production. This is because products are easily 3D scanned, copied, and produced without proper knowledge of how this could violate intellectual property rights. Step scanning equipment is already quite affordable and in the hands of small and medium-sized businesses. It is capable of accurately replicating an object's geometry into a computer-aided design (CAD) model. The number of copyrighted items that are being copied will rise with the popularity of low-cost 3D scanning devices like the Structure Sensor for iPad. It is probable that as a result, patent owners will file more lawsuits than they do at the moment against infringers. An increase in litigation is probably not a good thing because they raise the risk and expense of creating new products, which can stifle innovation. The intricate legal environment surrounding 3D printing and how it impacts product intellectual property rights only serves to highlight this. A product's mass production of a duplicate has led some to believe that, because of the nature of 3D printing, things may never be developed past the prototype stage in order to prevent IP infringement.
