The Pirate Bay now lets you download physical objects January 23

introducing Physibles

The world’s larget BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay, has just announced the addition of a new category of downloadable files — Physibles.

Physibles are described as “data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical.” And it’s The Pirate Bay’s belief that “the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form.”

They are talking here of course about digital files that can be sent to fabrication equipment such as 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers, Jacquard looms and so on. And with the continued improvement of such technology and it’s increasing adoption, The Pirate Bay believes that “You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”

Physibles is currently classified as Other in the line up of available torrents: Audio, Video, Applications, Games, and Other, but perhaps one day we’ll see the addition of Objects to the main categories.

We mentioned the possibility of The Product Bay two years ago, and today it’s officially happening. “We’re thinking of temporarily renaming ourselves to The Product Bay – but we had no graphical artist around to make a logo. In the future, we’ll download one,” concludes today’s announcement. (I’ve taken the liberty of throwing one together.)

Although there exist a handful of sites to find downloadable product files, including them in such a hugely popular file sharing site is a significant step in the personal fabrication movement. And just the beginning of what could make 2012 the year of the product design copyright fight.

via @golan via @bre

Posted in Downloadable, Intellectual Property, Kristen Turner by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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How 3D printing is changing consumer products June 3

Talks from the 2011 RAPID conference

Consumer Products was one of the major topics at this year’s RAPID conference on additive manufacturing. I attended all five presentations and was honored to be one of the speakers presenting on how 3D printing was changing this area of design and manufacture.

This is the fourth and final post on my experience at RAPID. What follows is summary of each of the talks on Consumer Products.

How to Create an Industry with 3D Printed Consumer Products

The first speaker was Janne Kyttanen, founder of Freedom of Creation.

Kyttanen was 100% designer from his insistence on using his own MacbookPro to give a Keynote lecture (We were supposed to only use Windows and PowerPoint.) to his Marilyn Monroe by Warhol Madonna t-shirt.

And it was from a designer’s perspective that he talked about his vision of a new industry completely based on 3D printed consumer products.

(more…)

Posted in 3D Printing, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Kristen Turner by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing

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Public outcry over Urban Outfitters stealing independent design May 26

A simple tumblr post goes viral

It’s currently a trending topic on twitter from New York to Chicago to San Francisco. Urban Outfitters is selling a knock-off jewelry line originally created by independent designer Stevie Koerner.

Koerner’s own label tru.che is well known for its United/World of Love necklaces, silhouettes of states and countries with a single hollow heart inside.

Yesterday, Koerner published a screenshot on her tumblr I Make Shiny Things of her exact designs being sold on Urban Outfitters online store and wrote:

—
My heart sank a little bit. The World/United States of Love line that I created is one of the reasons that I was able to quit my full-time job. They even stole the item name as well as some of my copy.

I’m very disappointed in Urban Outfitters. I know they have stolen designs from plenty of other artists. I understand that they are a business, but it’s not cool to completely rip off an independent designer’s work.

I’ll no longer be shopping at any of their stores [they also own Free People & Anthropologie], and I’m going to do my best from here on out to support independent designers & artists.

Please feel free to pass this link on. I really appreciate all the support & love I’ve received today.
xo,
Stevie
— (more…)

Posted in Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Kristen Turner, Maker Movement by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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“Ten Rules for Maker Businesses” by Wired’s Chris Anderson — Rule #6 November 9

Be as open as you can.

Why not release your designs, free for all to use? I realize that for many people this seems insane, but we’re seeing more and more examples of such Open Source Hardware business models working brilliantly.

It’s what we do at DIY Drones, and here’s why: when you release your designs on the web, licensed so that others can use them, you build trust, community, and potentially a source of free development advice and labor.

We release our electronics PCB designs in their native form (Cadsofts’ Eagle format), under a Creative Commons Attribution + Share and Share Alike license (“by-sa”), which allows commercial reuse.

Our software and firmware, meanwhile, is all released under a LGPL license, which also allows for commercial reuse as long as attribution is maintained and the code stays open. The result: hundreds of people have now contributed code, bug fixes, design ideas and made complimentary products to enhance our own.

The simple act of going open source has provided us with a free R&D operation that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if we’d been closed source and had to hire our own engineers to do the work, to say nothing of the quality of that work.

(more…)

Posted in Electronics + Robotics, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Maker Movement, Open Source, Programming, Selling + Business Tips, Technology by Ponoko Team | Comments are off for this post

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The Truth and Future of Design Copyright March 21

There’s a lot of speculation on what is and what is to come of design copyright. How does copyright work? Why is it important? Will digital manufacturing spawn product design piracy? Should we give away our designs for free? How can we protect our creative work?  And what is the deal with big retailers stealing from independent artists and designers?

This five part article sheds some light on the truth and asks for discussion on the future of design copyright. (more…)

Posted in Design, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Kristen Turner, Open Source by Kristen Turner | Comments are off for this post

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Competition Fine Print March 18

The large print giveth, but the small print taketh away.

Reading about the LG Design the Future competition via the Solidsmack Blog I was at first excited by the prospect of the generous first place prize of $20,000 Cash Award + 1 Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet (ARV of $349) + Autodesk industrial design software (ARV of $500) until reading further down the Solidsmack blog where Josh quotes the fine print:

All Designs will become the exclusive property of Sponsor, and none will be acknowledged or returned. You hereby waive any moral rights or any equivalent rights regarding the form or extent of any alteration to the Design or the making of any derivative works based on the Design, including, without limitation, photographs, drawings or other visual reproductions or the Design, in any medium, for any purpose. You acknowledge that LG owns all Designs whether patentable or unpatentable, and all works of authorship, whether copyrightable or uncopyrightable, made, developed, conceived, acquired, devised, discovered or created by you for this Contest. BY ENTERING A DESIGN IN THIS CONTEST YOU HEREBY IRREVOCABLE ASSIGN, CONVEY AND TRANSFER TO SPONSOR ANY AND ALL RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST IN THE DESIGN INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS EXISTING THEREIN.

So theoretically even if you do not win the competition you cannot legally use or modify the design ever again?

But then again LG is not renowned for ethical actions. From a recent recent article in the The Age Newspaper:

AN ELECTRONICS manufacturer with a history of making false environmental claims has been caught doctoring fridges to make them appear more energy efficient.

LG Electronics has agreed to compensate potentially thousands of consumers after two of its fridges – models L197NFS and P197WFS – were found to contain an illegal device that activates an energy-saving mode when it detects room conditions similar to those in a test laboratory.

The so-called circumvention device was discovered last month by consumer advocacy group Choice.

The device detects test conditions and activates the mode, creating the impression of lower running costs and energy usage. The devices have been banned in Australia since 2007.

Ouch.

However I am sure of the 28 competitions for April listed in a recent Ponoko blog post are more fair.

T shirt available at Zazzle

Posted in Duann Scott, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions by Duann | Comments are off for this post

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Copyright Clinic in Canberra March 14

For information about sponsorships, partnerships and donations to the arts.

The Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) is holding a free half day mentoring clinic in Canberra that will provide practical advice and tips on copyright to be held 2 June 2010 from 9:30am to 12:00pm.

Topics include:

- Overview of legislation for visual artists on moral rights and duration.
- Tips on protecting your copyright if working in Australia or overseas.
- Artists’ rights and responsibilities in relation to creative commons.
- Tips for dealing with possible infringements
- Protecting your artwork on the web (flickr, myspace and youtube)

The workshop will be presented by Ian McDonald, a senior legal officer with the Australian Copyright Council.
Download the registration form here.

What does AbaF do?

We make connections. We work with businesses large and small, arts organisations of all types, individual artists, trusts and foundations. We provide advice, professional development, volunteering and networking opportunities. Many of our services are free. Find out more about the AbaF approach.

Although mainly set up for visual artists, they have much online information and advice may apply to Ponoko users in Australia and around the world.

Posted in Duann Scott, Events, Intellectual Property by Duann | Comments are off for this post

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Copyright Criminals Documentary January 16

Examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.

Copyright Criminals traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.”The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more.

(more…)

Posted in Duann Scott, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Technology by Duann | Comments are off for this post

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Product Design Piracy and The Product Bay January 7

As Seth Godin says, “on the internet, piracy is not your problem, obscurity is”.

We talked a while back about what is going to happen when product design files start to appear on Pirate Bay and there was alot of discussion going back and forth with many references to what the ‘music industry’ has gone through and how this may be reflected in product design.

Josh Judkins recently pointed me into the direction of a new site which may be positioning itself to begin the torrent. The Product Bay by Peter Sunde who has some involvement with The Pirate Bay and has had much experience dealing with issues of intellectual property, copyright and etc. Although there is no index yet of files to access on the Product Bay they do point to Thingiverse as a starting point where people are sharing their own files.

But when the Product Bay (or similar) goes live will it be the equivalent of the blockbuster hits that get pirated? or the lesser known designs that sit further down the long tail? My bet, and I figure Seth Godin may agree, is that until you start getting mainstream press people are not going to even know if your design is worth downloading and 3D printing or laser cutting and will not bother.

This does not mean you/we do not need to protect your designs, but the cost of a patent would be prohibitive for most emerging designers and may not even stop the next wave of Shanzai products. So maybe until your designs get on the mainstream press radar (that may also get you on the piracy radar) perhaps the best thing to do would be to promote your designs through sharing?

Or perhaps more importantly to quote Harold Jarche slightly out of context“The challenge …. is figuring out the 90% that we should give away for free and the 10% that has market value and that we can charge for.”

Posted in Duann Scott, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions, Maker Movement, Tools + Apps by Duann | Comments are off for this post

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Product Designs on Pirate Bay? October 4

How long before we see ‘illegal’ product design files to download? And what should we do about it?
pirate bay
New release movies are available for download from various file sharing networks before they even hit the cinemas. Despite DRM and any other copyright protection put into music files they are instantly and widely spread across the net for free download seemingly as soon as the recordings are complete. Software applications and games are exactly the same, years of development are quickly absorbed and distributed in peer to peer networks without a dollar changing hands.

We can assume the same is going to happen with physical product design in the not too distant future, as the digital design process becomes ubiquitous, and the means of manufacture become distributed and democratized.
(more…)

Posted in Digital Fabrication, Downloadable, Intellectual Property, Interviews, Thoughts + Opinions by Duann | Comments are off for this post

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