DRM Could Come To 3D Printers

another random user sends this excerpt from TorrentFreak: "Downloading a car – or a pair of sneakers – will be entirely possible, although Ford and Nike won't be particularly happy if people use their designs to do so. A new patent, issued this week by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and titled 'Manufacturing control system', describes a system whereby 3D printer-like machines (the patent actually covers additive, subtractive, extrusion, melting, solidification, and other types of manufacturing) will have to obtain authorization before they are allowed to print items requested by the user. In a nutshell, a digital fingerprint of 'restricted items' will be held externally and printers will be required to compare the plans of the item they're being asked to print against those in a database. If there's a match, printing will be disallowed or restricted."

Comments

I call the authorisation database entry

[Neil_Brown]

for rectangles with rounded corners.

all great until someone publishes

[Anonymous Coward]

a free 3d model of a 3d printer that doesn't have all this crap in it

They Makes Me Laugh

[Githaron]

How can they believe that they can control this in a world where highly advanced 3D printing is possible at home? People will just print their own 3D printers that do not have these restrictions.

Re:Shouldn't be patentable

[Moblaster]

That's true. On the other hand, it's virtually impossible to enforce on any practical technical level. Like the quality of a first post.

The easy solution?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

On your DRM-enabled 3D printer, 3D-print a DRM-disabled 3D-printer.

Re:Shouldn't be patentable

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine having to get online and connect to some central computer to get permission to run that new update to Firefox.

No sane person would ever put up with this.

Sent from my iPhone.