Thursday, January 14, 2016

Monday, April 27, 2015

3D Selfies In The Trend

BBC Science and Environment News has the story of "3D selfies" as being strong in the trend at

'We print people': The world of 3D portraiture

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Legal Product Liability and 3-D Printing

Stanford Law Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom is featured by Clifton B. Parker at Stanford University News in 3-D printing creates product liability issues, Stanford scholar says, referring to her authored essay in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review at 3-D Printing and Product Liability: Identifying the Obstacles, 162 U. Pa. L. Rev. Online 35 (2013).

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Innovation-Blocking 3D Printing Patent on Producing Parts by Selective Sintering Expires

Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing had the story yesterday at Key 3D printing patent expired yesterday, writing:
"Yesterday marked the expiry of US Patent 5597589, "Apparatus for producing parts by selective sintering." This is one of the core patents in the 3D printing world -- the patent that allows 3D printer companies to charge more for fine nylon powder than Michelin-starred restaurants charge for filet mignon. The high cost of consumables in 3D printing has been a major barrier to innovation in the field -- selective laser sintering produces a fine finish that the patent-free fused deposition modeling technique used in Reprap-style printers can't match -- and now the brakes are coming off. "
This is another example of how patents do not foster innovation and progress, but achieve exactly the opposite.