Introduction to 3D printing

In this article, we will closely look at the intellectual property rights for 3D printing  and understand the detailed working of 3d printing and its applications 

3D printing is a method by which you can manufacture anything without consideration of manufacturing processes 

This was the primary reason why a famous quote changed 

“Manufacture drives design”  TO  “design drives manufacture” 

Previously it wasn’t possible to design and fabricate any design without considering manufacturing guidelines. Now 3D printing gave a degree of freedom in manufacturing, that it can fabricate any design irrespective of complications of its shape

3d printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

Registered design rights are a form of intellectual property protection that allows the owner to prevent others from making, using, or selling products that use a registered design without permission. 

In Australia, registered designs are protected under the Designs Act 2003, which requires the design to be novel and distinctive compared to the prior art base before certification.

Once a design registration is certified, the owner can enforce their rights against infringers. 

The Designs Act 2003 contains robust infringement provisions against designs that are substantially similar in overall impression, as well as direct imitations. However, slight alterations to the design may be enough to avoid infringement, particularly where there are already similar products on the market

Registering a design is particularly important for protecting against digital copying, and designers and manufacturers should consider doing so to ensure their intellectual property is protected. 

It is worth noting that design registrations only last for 10 years from the date of filing and cannot be used to protect older designs

How to make sure that the 3d printing design revolution is not an intellectual property nightmare

What is 3D printing? how does it work?

3D-printing is a method of manufacturing in which, we add material layer by layer to generate the final product, instead of removing material as we do in the machining operation this can be a good reason why 3d printing is a design revolution among 3d printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

Global market growth of 3D printing

ACCORDING TO SOME RESEARCH MARKET SIZE OF 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY WILL REACH 37.2 BILLION DOLLARS BY 2026

Applications of 3D-printing technology?

Automotive industry

Additive manufacturing is used in the automotive industry for manufacturing/printing jigs and fixtures, tools and some companies can manufacture or build frames of cars using additive Manufacturing technology 

3D-printing is also used to restore old cars in the automotive industry which are rare and expensive

Here is a guy who 3D print Lamborgini parts and build them 

This guy build part of his car with 3d-printing and didn’t hurt anyone’s intellectual property right and it is an example of why 3D printing is more of a revolution side among 3d-printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

Space industry

• 3D-printing is used to manufacture rocket engines and also their spare parts of it. 

• In India, an IIT madras student named agnikul developed a rocket engine via 3D printing 

• A normal engine has thousands of parts and each must be tested and later assembled which is a difficult task,

• 3D-printing made it easy to manufacture without any assemblies without any integration of parts without any conventional process 

Patenting such parts will be a design revolution amount 3d-printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

 

Fashion industry

 Nowadays not only dresses for women but also accessories for men are being developed using 3D printing 

This is why it is a 3D design revolution among the 3D-printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare 

3D printed dresses

• A fashion-based company anouk whipprecht developed a dress(spider dress) in which mechanical arms were created in such a way that they retract to the external stimuli and change to a defence posture (4D printing)

• This dress is fully developed using additive manufacturing technology called selective laser sintering technology
  

3D printed ties 

• A fashion-based company viptie 3D developed ties for men using 3D-printing technology

• The primary focus of this company is to provide high-tech fashion products such as ties and bowties 
  

3D printed shoes 

• Famous company Adidas launched 3D printed shoes in collaboration with the “carbon 3D”  

• Which is a future project of Adidas this is developed with a new additive manufacturing technology called digital light synthesis ( CLIP ) 
• Few advanced 3d printing processes such as Material jetting 3D printing are used to scale this type of work

Such Adidas shoes examples are one of the reasons why 3D printing is a design revolution among 3d printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

3D printed jewellery 

• If one doesn’t want to directly print the jewellery instead we create 3D moulds which further can be used for the development of Jewellery 

• But still, additive manufacturing technology such  as selective laser sintering or poly jet can be used for printing jewellery, it is done by use of technologies such as 3D printing technology and lost wax casting technology which is majorly used for developing 3D printed jewellery  

This is also a great privilege to the Jewellery industry and this is also an example of why 3D printing is a design revolution among 3d printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

3D printed watches 

• yes, even watches can be developed using 3D-printing technology 

• A company named “Atelier le Brézéguet” develop watches using 3D printing, not the whole watch but parts of watches are being developed using additive manufacturing technology 

Some Unbelievable designs are produced with 3D-printing which cannot be done by traditional manufacturing processes and this is also a reason why 3D-printing is a design revolution among 3d printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare

3D printed eyewear

• Even frames and also the lens of the eyewear can be manufactured using 3D-printing technology 

• A 3D printer named luxexcelvision engine used a UV-curable acrylate monomer to print two pairs of lenses per hour that no longer require polishing or post-processing of any kind. 

• The focal areas can be customised so that a certain portion of the lens can provide better clarity at a distance while a different area of the lens provides better vision up close.

Healthcare industry

3D printing for Hearing aid

For the past 17years, hearing aid healthcare components are being made using 3D-printing technology using a resin 3D printer and RSM(Rapid shell modelling) 

real-life example;-  sonova  a hearing aid component manufacturing company one of the major parts of the 3D printing revolution

3D printing for Dental

Nowadays we see dental companies which sell tooth aligners which are used to improve the alinement of teeth which looks like moulds, those moulds are made using 3D printing technology and reverse engineering 

3D Bio-printing 

This is currently in the research stage, where bio parts such as organs and body parts are 3D printed using additive manufacturing technology such as inkjet techniques.

3d printing design revolution or intellectual property nightmare so the answer is no you do not have to worry about intellectual property rights in the health industry every organ is different

Education industry 

Now a day in big universities use 3D printers in the classrooms which are used to build things, demonstrate and make the students visualise and understand things properly