Graphics Reference
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threatening “take down” letter to the boy, warning him that his printed toy
was in violation of the company's copyright. Shaken by the unexpected legal
threat, the boy sadly complied.
Intellectual property law is a sword that cuts both ways. Big companies can
squash competitors and innovative technologies by intellectual property as
their weapon of choice. However, small inventors and artists rely on intellec-
tual property rights so they can receive fair payment from people or companies
who inancially beneit from their inventions or works of art. The high school
student in our summer design and engineering class who was concerned with
intellectual property wasn't concerned about being “ripped off” by a big corpora-
tion. He was concerned about his work taken by another maker, without credit.
The challenge lies in deining a workable legal framework to make sense
of the vast expanses of gray areas and differing perspectives. It's relatively
simple to just enforce existing intellectual property laws when the culprits are
career pirates or counterfeiters who maliciously and intentionally disrespect
other people's intellectual property rights. However, as 3D printing technology
reaches the mainstream, simple “bad guys” will be the exception.
Trademarks
Once when I was in the Caribbean at an open air market, I bought a cheap
duffel bag that had a Nike insignia on the side, but with one minor modiica-
tion: the Nike swoosh was crossed with another swoosh, a smaller vertical
one. The reason the swoosh on the Nike-like bag I bought in the market had
the additional cross-swoosh worked into the design was to protect the bag's
maker against violating Nike's trademark.
Like patent and copyright, trademark is considered an intellectual prop-
erty right. People lump trademarks in with the notion of a “brand name” or
“logo.” A trademark is actually more speciic than that: it's actually a registered
mark, or “trade dress” that signals to consumers that a product is made by a
particular manufacturer.
The original purpose of a trademark was to protect consumers. Since then,
a trademark has become more of a marketing tool. A highly recognizable
trademark can be worth billions of dollars.
Trademarks, like patents, must be obtained in a central government ofice.
You can't just register a cool-looking logo as a trademark. The product you're
marking must be commercially for sale. If 5 years pass (this varies according
to country) and you're not selling your trademarked good commercially, your
trademark is considered abandoned and anybody can use it.
 
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