Printing the Future

What I am going to talk about today is sort of an aggregation of a lot of things I have already published, or am thinking about, that relates to how 3D printing challenges our patent system and how the patent system could respond doctrinally now and, in other ways, that we could theorize we could do. We should be frightened about some of those steps, however. I will then discuss some of the consequences that flow from these arguments. And so, I will skip through some of the earlier slides as to 3D printing. I think people know what that is. And there are obviously interesting things that can be printed. Speaking of fashion, I like this slide because, on one season of Project Runway, the designer using 3D printing was actually an N.C. State alum and an N.C. State professor, my alma mater. So I had a particularly strong affinity for that one. Of course, there are other challenging things like printing a human ear, and of course, the 3D printing of guns, and what that does for the regulation of guns.