Additive Manufacturing
About
Additive Manufacturing is part of our work in Chemicals, Industrials, and Materials.
Protecting innovations in a 3D printed world
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.
Experience
Oversaw due diligence for one of the world’s largest chemical companies during the acquisition of another company, including overseeing the mapping and analysis of the target’s patent portfolio and analyzing potential infringement by competitors.
