The document discusses how 3D printing may disrupt intellectual property. It argues that 3D printing could democratize manufacturing by allowing anyone to make things with virtually any functionality. As 3D printing capabilities improve and become more accessible, intellectual property laws may become increasingly irrelevant as customization replaces the need for intellectual property protections. The ability to make nearly anything through 3D printing away from centralized control could fundamentally shift business models and paradigms. Over time, intellectual property infringement may become impractical or impossible to enforce as 3D printing empowers distributed and decentralized production.

1. 3D Printing and the Future (or Demise) of
Intellectual Property
John Hornick
April 2015

2. 2
First, a Disclaimer
“Are these the shadows of the things
that Will be, or are they the shadows
of things that May be?”
» Ebenezer Scrooge, to the Third Spirit

3. Keep in Mind . . .

4. 4
Keep in Mind
Tipping into the mainstream
Everything will change
when . . .
Implications

5. Why the Future (or Demise) of IP?

6. 6
Three Reasons
 Democratization of manufacturing

7. 7
Three Reasons
 “There is a persistent widespread belief that
intellectual property law (and patents in particular)
encourage innovation. This is intuitive, however,
the evidence to the contrary is now overwhelming
and the unavoidable conclusion is that intellectual
property actually stifles innovation.”
Prof. Joshua Pearce, Materials Science, Mich Tech

8. 8
Three Reasons
Away from Control

9. Why 3DP May Change Everything

10. 10
Why It May Change Everything: Micro
 No assembly required
 Design freedom
 Mass customization
– Complexity = free
– Batches of one
 Greener

11. 11
Why It May Change Everything: Macro
 Inconsistent situations?
– Renaissance???
– Repatriation of jobs

12. 12
Why It May Change Everything: Macro
 But
– Disruption/destruction
– Future sales
– Regional
– Distributed
 How can we have both?

13. 13
Why It May Change Everything: Macro
 But
– Disruption/destruction
– Future sales
– Regional
– Distributed
 How can we have both?

14. Thought Experiment

15. 15
What Would Happen if?
 Anyone could make things
with virtually any functionality
away from control?

16. 16
What Would Happen if?
 Anyone could make things
with virtually any functionality
away from control?

17. 17
What Would Happen if?
 Anyone could make things
with virtually any functionality
away from control?
 Effect on:
– Traditional Business Models?
– IP?

18. 18
Answer: Paradigm Shift
–Democratization of
manufacturing
 No entry barriers

19. 19
Answer: Paradigm Shift
–Democratization of
manufacturing
 No entry barriers
 Lines blur

20. 20
Answer: Paradigm Shift
–Democratization of
manufacturing
 No entry barriers
 Lines will blur
 Fundamentally different
products

21. 21
Answer: Paradigm Shift
–Democratization of
manufacturing
 No entry barriers
 Lines will blur
 Fundamentally different
products
 BACK TO making, not buying

22. 22
Answer: Paradigm Shift
–Democratization of
manufacturing
 No entry barriers
 Lines will blur
 Fundamentally different
products
 BACK TO making, not buying
–As democratization increases . . .

23. 23
Answer: Paradigm Shift
IP increasingly irrelevant

24. 24
Answer: Paradigm Shift

25. 25
As democratization increases
 As democratization increases
–IP increasingly irrelevant
–Customization replaces IP

26. 26
As democratization increases
 As democratization increases
–IP increasingly irrelevant
–Customization replaces IP
Trade secrets
Software

27. 27
As democratization increases
 As democratization increases
–IP increasingly irrelevant
–Customization replaces IP
–Trade secrets/software
–Non-IP-based models

28. IP Disruption Checklist

29. 29
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators

30. 30
Disruption Checklist
 One more thing:

31. 31
Disruption Checklist
 One more thing:
Away from control

32. 3DP Today

33. 33
3DP Today
$5K to $2M ($90K)
½ of all machines
67,000
1764

34. 34
3DP in Aerospace
“This is the ultimate manufacturing method for us”
“This is the future of manufacturing”
– LEAP
 Alabama
 Weight

35. 35
3DP in Aerospace

36. 36
3DP in Automotive
 3 Cool Cars
 0 to 60 in 5 days

37. 37
3DP in Healthcare

38. 38
3DP in Healthcare
 Facial Reconstruction

39. 39
3DP in Healthcare
 Heart sensor/defibrillator membrane
– Washington U, St. Louis, U of Illinois
 2023
– University of Louisville

40. 40
3DP in Healthcare
 Proof of concept customizable artificial heart

41. 41
3DP in Healthcare
 Proof of concept customizable artificial heart

42. 42
3DP of Complex Structures
 Disney
 OwnPhone
 Voxel8

43. 43
3DP of Complex Structures
 MIT Center for Bits & Atoms
– 3D Assemblers
 Atoms/molecules
 Complete functional systems

44. Materials: Golden Age

45. 45
Usual Suspects
– Plastics
– Metals
– Ceramics
– Food
– Glass
– Wood

46. 46
Star Trek Materials
 NC State
– Flexible, stretchable
– Liquid at room temp
 U of Warwick:
– Carbomorph
 Chinese Academy
of Science
– Self-forming metal

47. 47
Star Trek Materials
 Graphene
– Flexible
– Transparent
– Conductive
– Harder than diamond
– 200x stronger
than steel

48. 48
Graphene

49. 3DP Will Rock IP

50. 50
Rocking the IP World
 All IP
 Most tech/products
 Gartner: $100B by 2018

51. 51
Rocking the IP World
 12,000 PATENTS/APPLICATIONS

52. 52
Rocking the IP World

53. 53
Rocking the IP World

54. 54
Rocking the IP World

55. 55
Rocking the IP World
Away from Control

56. 56
Rocking the IP World

57. 57
Rocking the IP World
Internet + 3DP AFC =

58. 58
Rocking the IP World
Internet + 3DP AFC =
avoid

59. 59
Rocking the IP World
Internet + 3DP =
defeat

60. 60
Rocking the IP World

61. 61
Rocking the IP World
“There is no reason for
patent and trademark law to
repeat the mistakes of
copyright, but there is
every reason to think that
these mistakes will be
repeated” Desai & Magliocca

62. IP Disruption Checklist
Where Are We Now?

63. 63
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . .

64. 64
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . .

65. 65
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials Loughborough U FACTUM HSS
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . . .
Continuous, High-Speed Fab-Grade Printer

66. 66
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . .

67. 67
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . .

68. 68
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale NE U NanoOPs
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . .
Focused Electron Beam Induced Deposition

69. 69
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially . . .

70. 70
Disruption Checklist
 Industrial scale
– Large build platform
– Speed or scale
 Industrial or Home scale --2013: 72,500
– Hybrid materials
– Ability to print complex structures
– Micro scale printing
– Hybrid machines
– Innovators, especially kids

71. 71
Disruption Checklist
 One more thing:

72. 72
Disruption Checklist
 One more thing:
Away from control

73. 73
Disruption Checklist
 One more thing:
Away from control

74. What Will Happen Next?

75. 75
Short Term
 Within Control
 Mass Production

76. 76
Longer Term
 Away from Control
– 5 Is

77. 77
Longer Term
 Away from Control
– 5 Is
 Infringement

78. 78
Longer Term
 Away from Control
– 5 Is
 Infringement
 Identification

79. 79
Longer Term
 Away from Control
– 5 Is
 Infringement
 Identification
 Impractical or Impossible

80. 80
Longer Term
 Away from Control
– 5 Is
 Infringement
 Identification
 Impractical or Impossible
 Irrelevant

81. 81
Away from Control

82. 82
Away from Control

83. 83
Away from Control

84. 84
Longer Term
 Away from Control
 Bigger Issue:
Why buy brands?

85. 85
Longer Term
 Away from Control
 Bigger Issue:
Why buy brands?
Biggest issue:
– Mass production

86. Why the Experts Are Wrong

87. 87
Why the Experts Are Wrong
– “Most 3DP sales will be industrial”
– “Most homes will not have 3DP anytime soon”
– “Home 3DP will be unsophisticated”

88. 88
Why the Experts Are Wrong
 Except this one:
“We live in exponential times”
$5M vs. $400

89. 89
Why the Experts Are Wrong
 And this one:
“I think every home within 10 years,
probably less than that, will have its own
3D printer, just as many homes now have
a 2D or laser printer”
Andy Bird, Chairman, Disney
International

90. 90
Why the Experts Are Wrong

91. 91
Why the Experts Are Wrong
Luinar TriBOT

92. 92
Why the Experts Are Wrong
MINK PRINTEER
Disney:

93. 93
Why the Experts Are Wrong

94. 94
Why the Experts Are Wrong

95. My Vision

96. 96
My Vision
 Within Control

97. 97
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
“We want our machines to
make anything” in 5 years
Epson

98. 98
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F

99. 99
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM

100. 100
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom

101. 101
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies

102. 102
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies
 Away from Control

103. 103
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies
 Away from Control
– iFactory

104. 104
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies
 Away from Control
– iFactory
– Every home

105. 105
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies
 Away from Control
– iFactory
– Every home
– Any functionality

106. 106
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies
 Away from Control
– iFactory
– Every home
– Any functionality
– Easy as a breadmaker

107. 107
My Vision
 Within Control
– Multi-function
machines
– Radically different L&F
– Complement TM
– Every classroom
– Flourishing economies
 Away from Control
– iFactory
– Every home
– Any functionality
– Easy as a breadmaker
– IP increasingly
irrelevant

108. 108
When?
“We always overestimate the change
that will occur in the next two years and
underestimate the change that will occur
in the next ten”
Bill Gates

109. 109
Will we be Ready?

110. 110
Will we be Ready?
“a substantial portion of
manufacturers may be caught off-
guard by the rapid changes
underway”

111. 111
Takeaways
Everything will change

112. 112
Takeaways
Everything will change
–When you can make anything

113. 113
Takeaways
Everything will change
–When you can make anything
IP, it’s not dead yet!

114. 114
Thank you for your time!
john.hornick@finnegan.com
www.finnegan.com
FOLLOW MY TWEETS: @ JHornick3D1Stop

115. 115
Disclaimer
These materials are public information and have been prepared solely for
educational and entertainment purposes to contribute to the understanding
of U.S. intellectual property law. These materials reflect only the personal
views of the authors and are not a source of legal advice. It is understood
that each case is fact specific, and that the appropriate solution in any case
will vary. Therefore, these materials may or may not be relevant to any
particular situation. Thus, the authors and Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,
Garrett & Dunner, LLP cannot be bound either philosophically or as
representatives of their various present and future clients to the comments
expressed in these materials. The presentation of these materials does not
establish any form of attorney-client relationship with the authors or
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP. While every
attempt was made to ensure that these materials are accurate, errors or
omissions may be contained therein, for which any liability is disclaimed.