Answer

Protection of Intellectual Property

With 3-D technology, everything from prosthetic limbs, engine parts, shoes, and even chocolates can now be produced. However, just like any other technological advancement, it has its perils. This paper elaborates on the effect of 3-D printing on copyright and patents, its effect on future innovation, and 3-D printing of biological DNA in the cyber-threat landscape.

• D printing is an exciting area filled with new possibilities. However, the law is struggling to resolve the legal challenges that this new technology has brought about. With 3-D printing, products, regardless of their patent, trademark, or copyright, can be copied and reproduced (Niess & Wende,2017). Reproducing is as simple as downloading a computer-aided design (CAD) file which instructs the printer to produce the 3D object. The fact that the CAD files are digital means that they can be shared across the internet as simple as we share movies and music. Each printed copy equals a potential sale loss to the product’s patent owner. For a patent holder to sue a manufacturer, they must prove that the manufacturer has a 3D printer, a move that may hard to prove.

Pirated 3-D digital designs could affect future innovation dramatically as hackers could use this avenue to cause severe damage. The 2016 experiment where a team of university researchers hacked into a computer and changed a few code lines in the 3D blueprint for a drone’s propeller is a typical example of the effect on innovation (Johston, 2018). The drone’s propeller blew apart after a minute, and it fell, shattering to impact. Innovations like this can be hacked, and the ideal 3D pirated designs can be sold to the highest bidders. Company innovations that are not well secured can also be pirated and sold to other companies.

A 3D printer can also dispense biological materials, meaning printing biological material is possible with the 3D printer organs such as skin and biological DNA (Munaz et al., 2016). This kind of biological technology could pause a serious cyber-threat. With an individual’s DNA easy to print, bio-weapons can be engineered to wipe out an individual or region. Hackers can collaborate with terrorism and unleash disease and epidemic of extraordinary destructive potential.

In summary, 3-D printing is a technology that will revolutionize the world. This technology could ease many activities from the defense to the medical field. However, many regulations have to be put in place, such as intellectual property rights, to adapt swiftly to the new evolving technology.

.