Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum Volume 3 Issue 1 Spring 2013 Article 4 April 2013 When Copyright Can Kill: How 3D Printers Are Breaking the Barriers Between “Intellectual” Property and the Physical World Matt Simon Pace University School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pipself Part of the Computer Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Matt Simon, When Copyright Can Kill: How 3D Printers Are Breaking the Barriers Between “Intellectual” Property and the Physical World, 3 Pace. Intell. Prop. Sports & Ent. L.F. 60 (2013). Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pipself/vol3/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. When Copyright Can Kill: How 3D Printers Are Breaking the Barriers Between “Intellectual” Property and the Physical World Abstract This article examines copyright’s applicability to 3D printing technology, by analyzing the facts surrounding the (formerly) proposed development of a fully 3D printable firearm. Critical to this analysis however, is an understanding of how copyright has traditionally protected intellectual property, and why 3D printers do not fit into this conventional framework. As 3D printing is advancing at an extraordinarily rapid rate, any discussion of this topic would be incomplete without reference to the “moving target” that is 3D printing technology.