3D protection

摘要

From Eric Billett You report that file-sharing site The Pirate Bay has started to offer "physibles" - digital objects that can be realised on 3D printers (4 February, p 22). The article says that while copyright and patents can protect music and inventions, there is very little protection for solid objects. This is not the case in the UK, where "design right" and "registered designs" are used to protect intellectual property (IP) in the case of 3D objects. Design right is roughly the equivalent of copyright and automatically covers 3D designs, whereas a registered design offers more formal protection to specific designs.