3D printing: a new challenge for IP

3D printing can sometimes seem like the Wild West. With the major changes it is bringing about in the way objects are manufactured, it also brings with it new dangers. Such is the case of counterfeiting by digitization, which consists of digitally reproducing the object in question in a CAD file, which can then be reused without limit for 3D printing purposes. Industrial companies are thus faced with the same problems as those encountered by players in the content industry (peer-to-peer). In other words, how can IP rights be effectively protected if the possibility of copying becomes accessible to all, and insofar as the power of the Internet allows uncontrolled dissemination of copying (risk of scale)?

For most legal experts, the phenomenon can be perfectly understood in terms of the specific regimes defined by the legislator to circumscribe digital counterfeiting....