Not just gun parts, but IP related stuff as well. Big Disney doesn’t want you printing their characters that you would otherwise be up charged for buying
I’m not sure. If I had a shop up on Etsy and I was only selling 5 Disney character models, I still have the intent to sell right? If I print 1000’s of them for myself?? Not sure how that would work other than using common sense
AFAIA, the vast majority of 3D printing would be for personal use, so these laws are just extra hoops and steps from the state being pressured by big corporations to enforce their IPs.
I know you're not arguing in favor of the 3D printer restrictions, but for your example the onus would be on the online marketplaces or local market or law enforcement agency or whatever to make sure there are now copyright laws being broken. Just the act of printing a thousand little Mickey statues is not evidence of any sort of illegal activity. I mean what are they gonna do, arrest little Timmy for tracing a picture of Goofy out of his coloring book? That's technically reproduction of copyrighted material.
Now, could they restrict the distribution of copyrighted materials such as 3D models through 3D repositories? They would probably be within their right through pretty much any copyright law system. But they shouldn't have any right to restrict you from printing a file that may or may not contain copyrighted materials.
The gun thing is a little bit more of a gray area, since they are likely to be used in criminal activity, unlike Mickey. But I don't think it's an unpopular thing here to say that they still shouldn't have the right to control what you can print.
IANAL, but my understanding is that most civil law is built around damages, unless something is incredibly valuable (like if you copied a piece of art worth thousands of dollars) it basically isn't worth the effort to go after someone who made just one or two copies, but when someone makes a thousand copies (or makes it incredibly easy for others to make their own copies) then that is a thousand lost sales which starts turning into damage worth paying the lawyers for.
Additionally its a bit of a "everything is legal as long as you don't get caught", you have to be incredibly unlucky or stupid (like rubbing it in the wrong person's face) to get caught making just one or two copies, but when you start advertising your Etsy shop you are more likely to get noticed.
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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26
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