The newest roadmap for standardization in 3D printing by the American National Standards Institute, ANSI, takes a clear stance for preventing IPR infringements, and already puts forth practical ways to mitigate and detect unauthorized reproduction of 3D-printed products.
The U.S.-based American National Standards Institute, ANSI, is in the process of creating a standard for additive manufacturing, i.e. 3D printing. One of the main purposes of the standard is to outline and harmonize best practices in the rapidly developing industry. The newest roadmap was published in early April.
The roadmap acknowledges in clear terms that forgery, unauthorized reproduction and other intellectual property right infringements constitute a threat for the reliability and wide adoption of 3D printing. This is particularly crucial in mission critical applications but very relevant also in consumer markets where consumers require the quality they are paying for and supplies don't want to be associated with products with poor or unknown quality.
In the roadmap, challenges and corresponding development needs are widely recognized. These range from protecting (for example, with block chain technology) design files against unauthorized tampering and distribution, to preventing and detecting unauthorized reproduction of 3D-printed products through 3D scanning, and protecting 3D printing devices against hacking.
Even though standardization is still work in progress, the roadmap already puts forth practical means to mitigate infringement risks through enabling the detection of unauthorized reproduction of 3D-printed products. Such means include, for example:
- Using in 3D printed products such materials or material combinations which can't be recognized with a naked eye or through 3D scanning, whereby an unauthorized reproduction can be detected by its different material makeup.
- Adding small features on the surface of the product in places which are covered by the shape of the product in such a way that the features are not directly observable or 3D-scannable. Thereby, the absence of such features can expose an unauthorized reproduction.
- Incorporating a specific void or a porosity area within the structure of the product, whereby an unauthorized reproduction can be detected - destructively or with material-penetrating imaging - by the absence of such a void or a porosity. Because such a feature is embedded within the structure of the product, it can not be reproduced with, for example, 3D scanning-based methods.
- Incorporating an authentication tag, such as an RFID tag, within the structure of the product. In this case, a product can be authenticated from the outside with a suitable reading device.
With respect to protecting the design files - i.e. the blueprints - themselves, the roadmap is not too specific yet. However, this theme is identified as one of the "gaps" requiring further development efforts. Nonetheless, the roadmap identifies block chains as one of the potential technologies which could be put into this use, as recently featured in our blog post.
All in all, the ongoing standardization for 3D printing seems to take immaterial property rights very seriously, and one may expect the forthcoming standard to present tangible solutions to the infringement concerns currently discussed within the 3D printing industry and especially in industries contemplating the adoption and use of this technology. In the meantime - and afterwards - the above-mentioned mitigation means seem quite practicable.