3D Printing and Beyond: Intellectual Property and Regulation, by Dinusha Mendis, Mark Lemley and Matthew Rimmer (eds)

Abstract

Intellectual property (IP) law is everywhere. This wide-ranging collection of essays addresses a fundamental issue with IP law—how can it deal with a world where replication of information is essentially costless, and physical replication may be moving (if not at the same pace) in the same direction with 3D printing technology. The book is divided into three parts focusing on UK, USA and Australian perspectives on 3D printing and IP. The first substantive chapter is an abridged version of Lemley’s ground-breaking article ‘IP in a world without scarcity’.1 Each jurisdictional part provides chapters looking at prime elements of the IP firmament (copyright, design rights, trade marks, and patents) finishing with a more general essay on the impact of 3D printing on law.2 The concluding essay co-authored by Mendis, Lemley and Rimmer provides a useful overview of the preceding chapters, drawing out the points of tension evident throughout the three jurisdictions’ IP regimes. It is clear that whilst there is (to use a loaded term) substantial similarity between the three systems, there are aspects where protection for IP rights (IPR) holders, direct and indirect infringers and ‘good faith’ end users vary between the different jurisdictions. Throughout, a wealth of further literature is referred to. This chapter, read with the book as a whole, provides a valuable foundation for further more detailed scholarship on the issues identified.