Mendis, Dinusha; Lemley, Mark; Rimmer, Matthew --- "Introduction – From the Maker Movement to the 3D printing era: opportunities and challenges" [2019] ELECD 253; in Mendis, Dinusha; Lemley, Mark; Rimmer, Matthew (eds), "3D Printing and Beyond" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 1

Book Title: 3D Printing and Beyond

Editor(s): Mendis, Dinusha; Lemley, Mark; Rimmer, Matthew

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781786434043

Section Title: Introduction – From the Maker Movement to the 3D printing era: opportunities and challenges

Author(s): Mendis, Dinusha; Lemley, Mark; Rimmer, Matthew

Number of pages: 29

Extract:

Introduction ­ From the Maker Movement to the 3D printing era: opportunities and challenges Dinusha Mendis, Mark Lemley and Matthew Rimmer 1. INTRODUCTION On 23 November 2017 the European Parliament published a Working Document titled Three-Dimensional Printing, a Challenge in the Fields of Intellectual Property Rights and Civil Liability.1 The publication went on to state that the European Commission `has made 3D printing one of the priority areas of technology'.2 The technology was also referred to in the European Commission's recent reflection paper on `harnessing globalisation', stating that three-dimensional (3D) printing, among other emerging technologies, `will revolutionise how we produce, work, move and consume' (emphasis added).3 In April 2018 the European Commission demonstrated its commitment to exploring the intellectual property (IP) implications of industrial 3D printing by commissioning research into this area, in a move to shape policy, while in July 2018 the European Parliament adopted a resolution to regulate 3D printing in the field of intellectual property rights and civil liability.4 European Parliament (Committee on Legal Affairs), Working Document: Three-Dimensional Printing, a Challenge in the Fields of Intellectual Property Rights and Civil Liability (23 November 2017) at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&reference=PE-612.302&format=PDF&language =EN&secondRef=01. 2 ibid. 3 European Commission, Reflection Paper on Harnessing Globalisation (10 May 2017), COM (2017) 240 final at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ TXT/?uri=COM%3A2017%3A240%3AFIN. 4 A project ...