Socio-Legal Aspects of the 3D Printing Revolution

Additive manufacturing or '3D printing' has emerged into the mainstream in the last few years, with much hype about its revolutionary potential as the latest 'disruptive technology' to destroy existing business models, empower individuals and evade any kind of government control. This book examines the trajectory of 3D printing in practice and how it interacts with various areas of law, including intellectual property, product liability, gun laws, data privacy and fundamental/constitutional rights. A particular comparison is made between 3D printing and the Internet as this has been, legally-speaking, another 'disruptive technology' and also one on which 3D printing is partially dependent. This book is the first expert analysis of 3D printing from a legal perspective and provides a critical assessment of the extent to which existing legal regimes can be successfully applied to, and enforced vis-à-vis, 3D printing.

Angela Daly is Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She also holds the positions of Adjunct Research Fellow at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research, Australia, and Research Associate at the Tilburg Institute of Law, Technology and Society, The Netherlands. She is a socio-legal scholar of technology, with expertise in intellectual property, human rights (privacy and free expression), and competition and regulation.