3D printing 'Pirate Bay' plans launch

A search engine dedicated to providing copyright-free blueprints for a range of 3D printable objects is set to be launched by a company that has already developed 3D printed gun parts, potentially sparking a mass of legal challenges.

3D printing linked to piracy

The firm, Defcad, has already been dubbed the ‘Pirate Bay of 3D printing’, referring to the controversial file-sharing web site which was blocked by several Internet service providers last year.

Crypto-anarchist

The BBC reports that the new venture is the brainchild of Cody Wilson, a law student and self-styled crypto-anarchist who last year set up Defense Distributed - a project aiming to print gun parts.
The project caused outrage in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, with 3D printing firm MakerBot removing blueprints from its web site and 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys refusing permission for its machines to be used by the company.
In a video on the Defcad web site, Mr Wilson calls for funding and says: ‘Help us turn Defcad into the world's first unblock able, open-source search engine for 3D printable parts.’

Risk

Lorna Caddy, a senior associate in the copyright and media law practice at international law firm Taylor Wessing, told the BBC: ‘Supplying consumers with blueprints to print products designed by third parties is a business model fraught with risk.
‘Many of those products will be protected by intellectual property rights, such as design law. Owners of those rights could assert them in the courts to prevent their designs being further distributed and to seek financial compensation.’

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