Let's Try a More Rational Legal Approach to 3D Printing Law

Last Sunday, Cory Doctorow posted a piece on Boingboing noting that (some) patent lawyers were going more or less off the deep end in overreacting to patent challenges around 3d printing. It's nice to know that not all lawyers share the particular brand of paranoid lunacy exhibited by Finnegan there.

In particular, I was pointed to a piece by Lisa Shuchman for the Corporate Counsel blog which takes a much more measured approach. Shuchman provides a brief review of the current state of the technology (prices tumbling) and notes that the area is almost certain to be one of the biggest challenges for IP law in the coming years.

Rather than panic, though, she (following the lead of Michael Weinberg, who works for Public Knowledge) advises lawyers to "look to the past before trying to sue the disrupting technology out of existence." Noting that the scorched-earth plan didn't work so well for the Cartel as it tried to stop digital music, Weinberg suggests "...companies would be better off taking a lesson from history and seeking ways to profit from 3-D printing."

How novel! How refreshing! How totally sane. I don't think anyone doubts that 3D printers represent major disruption in both manufacturing and IP law. But disruption doesn't mean disaster, especially if people take the time to plan and prepare. And that includes IP lawyers.