discussion Adventures in resin 3D printing

[Tim Marlow]

I can imagine the copyright issues around printing to be a bit convoluted Andy. Just musing aloud, if you buy a file for personal use only, print some for yourself, then later decide you don’t want them, can you sell those prints on? It’s a world away from buying a personal file and printing/selling them to order isn’t it. I get that being an issue, it’s like digital recasting.
Another example is printing some, then painting them and later selling on the painted prints when you no longer want them. Does that infringe copyright?
I’m not looking to do this, just wondering if it’s an area where the law hasn’t caught up with the technology?
Fascinating to watch how easily this has come together for you though.

 

[Andy T]

Your guess is as good as mine Tim. It seems to be a grey area that I haven't got to the bottom of yet.

I do currently have a line though. Thomas regularly does commission painting, and also sells his older or excess models online. If that were to include 3d printed models I'd probably be okay with that.

Like you say though, if he suddenly started printing another person's files just to sell on as is, it's a different story and I'd have an issue with that.

I'm not sure if that stands up legally, but it's a moral judgement that I'm happy with for now.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Seems logical to me. I think I’d have the same boundaries Andy. I don’t think there is a bottom, though others with more experience in this area than me (not hard ) may say different.

 

[Andy T]

And then there's the whole remix situation.

If I downloaded a design then added some extra twiddly bits myself, could I then claim it as my own?

Like you say, the law is probably lagging behind the tech and needs clarifying.