Home Digitizers: The End of Manufacturing and Object IP

Makerbot has recently released it’s AFFORDABLE 3d digitizer into the market… I think it’s great having competition in this area but it raises a lot of issues that I’d like to discuss here.

Unlike most of the other 3D printing companies I’m familiar with, Makerbot is an “open-sourced” yet holds a few patents relating to 3D printing – some of them are neat like a conveyor belt to quickly print volumes of orders but it caused a lot of feathers to be ruffled regardless… I think the advent of a true 3D digitizer will ruffle far more features.

Until now, 3D digitizers have been relatively expensive, I’m not talking a cell phone program that takes pictures from a few angles and makes a 3D model, I’m talking about a true 3D digitizer that takes X, Y, Z coordinates of a surface and spits them into a software program that can then replicate it. This technology isn’t new… but an affordable solution that’s easy to use which is made available to anybody – IS!

I think Makerbot has done a wonderful job getting people with 3D printing – far better than just about any other manufacturer out there with far deeper pockets but their entire focus on sharing has me concerned. Let me explain why.

I took a screenshot from their digitizing link to put a little more context. Although I think digitizing is wonderful for the masses – it also spells the end of design copyright and object IP across a wide swath of businesses. Sure, this garden gnome isn’t anything special, but there IS a company out there that paid somebody to design it, create the molds and get it into production.

I’d guess that well over 20 people were involved with the entire process from start to finish with associated overhead expenses. Regardless of what you may think of gnomes… its somebodies business (and employees jobs) and they can make a living BECAUSE of this IP.

Here comes a guy, let’s call him Steve, walking down the street, sees the gnome on sale for 15$ and says to himself, hey, I can 3D print my very own for about 10$. What happens? Well, he most likely has no clue about IP (or jobs around it), scans and makes one and begins selling it to his friends and family for some extra cash. Because Steve 3D printed the model, he “worked hard” and feels entitled to think it’s his to do as he wishes – maybe he cleaned-up the mesh a bit and fixed a few vertices. If he’s really “open”, he the shares “his” design online with others. The consequences?

Have enough of this and manufacturers will shut down operations, they can’t compete with Steve… he’ll expand into markets quicker than them by stealing other companies IP and undercut them all the way. Sure, Steve is making lots of money at this point… able to release new products as fast as his digitizer can digitize but he didn’t create anything, just copied his way to success.

Lets say that I own this manufacturing plant with about 50 employees, what are my choices? I can sub the work out to China (most likely much of my stuff is being made there already) to get costs down but even if the labor is cheap, the shipping isn’t. I can bring Steve to court but I’m guessing he’ll just shut shop and open somewhere else leaving me with a floundering business stripped of IP with zero legal recourse. Remember that I never met Steve, he has no idea he’s swiping my design nor the consequences of him “sharing” them with others around the world.

This is why I say my only course of action is to shut down. As a company, I can’t go around swiping other people’s IP as I’d end-up in court myself. The 3D printing company that provides the machine and materials says that what customers do with their technology isn’t their problem either. That’s a dead-end.

The reason I’m concerned about this is quite simple, there are far more untalented people in the world than talented ones… that’s why Aaron Spelling was so wealthy – most people watch TV instead of making their own shows! These untalented people all of a sudden are given the power of a manufacturing plant thanks to a 3d printer but until now, getting working models has been the major hold back. Now, give them a digitizer and voila – instant mass manufacturing! They have no education or background in design, much less business or fairness. They need money NOW and they are now provided with a dumb down ATM where they scan and print their way to their next paycheck. Designers respect each other and their work… it’s a close community but if you aren’t aware of it, this respect for work and time doesn’t exist in your mind.

Although I like the theory of “sharing makes the world better”, I’ve yet meet a designer who shares all their designs and is able to make a living at the same time from their designs. 3D modeling is expensive – I pay 2 000$US a year just to MAINTAIN legal software licenses and invest a few more thousand in computers and other technology every year just to improve things. Small potatoes yes but expenses never the less. This excludes my time which clocking far higher on a weekly basis than a regular 9-5 schedule.

Solutions? There aren’t any easy ones

I can spend a few weeks building a wonderful 3D printed widget that I can sell on CNCKing.com digitally for other designers to make but he’s the rub – would I spend those few weeks designing something if the next month, I find-out that hundreds if not thousands of people swiped my design and are mass-producing it without my consent? Who do I go after? Steve knows nothing about me – he just digitized my design from a Walmart shelf. In the “old” days, it was easy to find the source, it costs money to build a proper manufacturing plant with licenses and regulations – I’m a lonely designer… Steve is a lonely “manufacturer”… again, I have no real legal recourse and if I punch him in the head, I’d end-up in jail for assault, while he kept making money from my design as I grow a beard in solitary confinement.

I could apply for a design patent for EACH and EVERY design I made – sounds wonderful – at a few thousand dollars each and again, lack of financial resources to maintain the patent – that solution is dead in the water. Remember, Steve set-up (if he was smart), a corporation and he can just shut it down once the heat got too hot and open another one next door and there is nothing I can do about it other than make lawyers rich chasing him.

So, registering my design is an exercise in futility so is physical or legal violence so that leave me with one conclusion. Stop what I’m doing… Steve wouldn’t care because there are more designers out there willing to work for free than those looking to be paid for their investments and time. Walmars always got more stuff and he’s blind as to the whole REAL design/manufacturing world. I shut down my manufacturing plant, laid off all the workers – maybe some go work for Steve – and retire somewhere down an alley.

Now, you might say, hey, that’s just a garden gnome – look around you – how many things on your desk right now are supporting manufacturers and jobs that can be easily 3D printed by Steve in his garage? Some of it can, but you’d need a high-end 3d printer for most of it. Let’s take that a step further, Steve buys a large format 3d printer capable of printing circuit boards, ceramics, wooden and metal objects (these already exist, just too expensive now). I hope things have gotten a little more uncomfortable for you as a designer. That Martha Steward door knob you paid 180$ for? Swiped and now selling for 25$ delivered directly from his garage. That 35$ Oliver cup holder? Swiped and now selling for 5$… and the list goes on. Brand names will be the first to suffer but so will individual designers with NO name recognition.

Here are my predictions

Unless laws and regulations are strengthened for these devices to prevent Steve from doing what he and thousands of others WILL BE DOING, manufacturers of small items (at first) will be wiped-out due to the actions of guys and gals like Steve. Not a big deal you think? Most people in the world work for or have a job associated with small manufacturers! It will start slowly, first the low-hanging fruit will be swiped with designs being made on PirateBay (or their equivalents) then it will go up the food chain to larger more complex products across a larger swath of materials as they come online. Once a model is digital, it’s easy to replicate in endless quantities! Things are so interconnected that these changes will happen fast and hard!

3D printing companies don’t care – they only sell the ink, paper and printer – what people print and sell isn’t their problem though some have become concerned about people 3D printing guns. Again, Steve doesn’t care… he’s looking for some beer money, not talking with others in the design or 3D community.

Designers… the lonely designer trying to make a living from their craft – they will suffer immediately and well into the future – if they are lucky, maybe Steve will begin producing his own IP though considering where he began, most likely smart enough to realize that it’s a waste of money because Steve II is just around the corner swiping his stuff as soon as it leave the garage. It’s a race to the bottom with 3D printing suppliers and manufacturers profiting all the way UNTIL the same thing starts happening to them with open sourced equivalents coming online.

Not all doom and gloom!

I think in all this chaos, something good will come of it, local manufacturing is a great thing… though global shipping companies won’t like the results. Over the next 10-15 years, the world is going to start down a road that will make the industrial revolution seem small in comparison. There will be tremendous opportunities and challenges for those lucky enough to be at the right place and the perfect time.

My goal with CNCKing.com

I love working on CNCKing.com – I love the interaction I have with designers big and small across a wide variety of expertise and backgrounds. I’m both a founder and designer as well as trying to run a business… so I see all the angles hitting the industry and only see opportunities for designers in the future… but there isn’t much time. A company is only as good as its brand – if you see a design on CNCKing.com, it has NOT been swiped and a designer is getting money from their design. I want to keep that going and make it even more profitable for all involved.

Instagram has millions of users but generates a hefty loss for Facebook while Shutterstock has only 20 million trusted and curated designs and is highly profitable. I want CNCKing.com to be the Shutterstock of CNC machine files.

If I can build this brand while educating others about design and fair compensation, designers will be able to profit from their hard work, users will appreciate the attention to detail and project selection and the world will be a better place where people like Steve are rightfully shunned and put out of business. If I and others within the industry fail to reach this goal, home digitizers will be the end of manufacturing and object IP.