Additive Manufacturing is part of our work in Chemicals, Industrials, and Materials.
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, turns a 3D digital model created on a computer or with a 3D scanner into a physical object, allowing users to make almost anything. Unlike traditional manufacturing, which typically uses subtractive processes, such as cutting, drilling, milling, or grinding, 3D printing is an additive process that fuses materials, layer on layer, with heat, chemicals, light, electron beams, or adhesives. 3D printing is a disruptive technology with far-reaching implications for manufacturers, consumers, and intellectual property owners. While 3D printing technology enables manufacturers to make complex designs, rapid prototypes, and final parts in fundamentally different ways, it also allows almost anyone to re-create any existing product design and make, use, or distribute it without permission from the original creator. Due to the very nature of additive manufacturing, users and makers of 3D printers will encounter emerging issues involving their own patents, trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets, and copyrights, and those of others. Almost anyone who owns rights in product designs may be affected by 3D printers and will need solid guidance to navigate their IP rights.
Finnegan understands the potentially disruptive nature of additive manufacturing. We see the need for companies to determine how this technology may affect them, the demands of investors and shareholders to generate value, and the importance of securing early and meaningful IP protection. We advise 3D printer makers, digital design exchanges, materials companies, and government policymakers. Our professionals have secured, analyzed, commercialized, enforced, and/or defended the IP assets of clients in virtually every technology area associated with 3D printing:
From educating clients on the effects of 3D printing technologies to developing tailored IP strategies, we help by:
Oversaw due diligence for one of the world’s largest chemical companies while it was purchasing another company, including overseeing the mapping and analysis of the target’s patent portfolio and analyzing potential infringement by competitors.
Conference
Leveraging US Patents in this “Secret” Court to Exclude Infringing Importers
June 8, 2023
Birmingham
Articles
Equipping U.S. Rightsholders with the Tools to Deal with the Challenges of 3D Printing
July 8, 2020
Media Mention
3D Printing: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Implications of Additive Manufacturing
June 2015
Due to international data regulations, we’ve updated our privacy policy. Click here to read our privacy policy in full.
We use cookies on this website to provide you with the best user experience. By accepting cookies, you agree to our use of cookies. Please note that if you opt not to accept or if you disable cookies, the “Your Finnegan” feature on this website will be disabled as well. For more information on how we use cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.
Finnegan is thrilled to announce the launch of our new blog, Ad Law Buzz, devoted solely to breaking news, developments, trends, and analysis in advertising law.