Question

How might product liability law be disrupted by 3D printing?

Answer 1

The backbone of products liability law is created with the concept of the traditional supply chain – designer, manufacturer, distributor, and purchaser. However, with more and more people turning to 3-D printing, where a person is able to design and create a product in their basement or garage, the concept of the traditional supply chain is thrown out the window. Along with this is the basic ideas about strict liability.

There are few courts that have actually dealt with this issue thus far; however, many attorneys have begun looking into the many complexities that are likely going to arise as 3-D printing continues to grow.

Some of the most common questions related to 3-D printing range from the pretty mundane, such as a bicyclist that creates a bicycle part, to heart surgeons creating a 3-D printed model of a person’s heart to practice a challenging surgery.

There are some regulatory bodies that have started to touch on this issue. However, since there is so much that is still unresolved, many lawyers are looking into concepts of products liability when they are advising their clients.

The actual machines that offer the additive manufacturing, which is commonly called 3-D printing, use CAD software (computer aided design) software as a blueprint for the product. These files are often able to be downloaded from the Internet.

According to some attorneys, when you are dealing with companies that actively use 3-D printing, liability issues are typically able to be broken down into three different categories:

• When the manufacturer licenses or purchases a design that is used for printing the product.
• When the manufacturer has modified the file prior to printing the product.
• When the manufacturer actually designs the file.  

Time will tell how these cases will play out. Eventually, some type of legislation is likely going to have to be created to regulate 3-D printing.