1 Topic by 3dEOD

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Topic: 3d printer legality?

Hello all

I was cruising the web earlier today and came across a thread at 3dprintboard.com amd I brought up some questions. I know it illigal to print and sell items that are for non commercial use only. My question is if a friend came to me and said he wanted an item of thingivers.com, could I charge for the filament and time use of my printer and not for the item? This might just be a grey area or it may just be plain illegal,  I do t know. What are your thoughts on this?
To find the the thread I referred to, I googled "printing and selling items from thingivers" the thread was titled; Can we print and sell other peoples stuff?

I blow stuff up that blows stuff up.

2 Reply by Tomek

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Re: 3d printer legality?

depends on the license it's released with.

3 Reply by 3dEOD

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Re: 3d printer legality?

Right, but that limits the sale of the item. Would the use of the printer and filament used be held to the same legal binding agreement is my question?

I blow stuff up that blows stuff up.

4 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: 3d printer legality?

3dEOD wrote:

Right, but that limits the sale of the item. Would the use of the printer and filament used be held to the same legal binding agreement is my question?

I don't believe so. If something on Thingiverse states "Share Alike", I believe you can state your price on it.
Anything else, you can charge cost of material, resources, and power used. That is it. If someone asked me to print an MK5 extruder, I would just give it up free of charge since it costs next to nothing to make; AND because it was enot designed by myself. But if it is a big or problematic print, or requested by someone I could care less for, I would charge for materials....only fair, and you are not monopolizing on a potentially patented item...only for "lost wages".

I am no lawyer, but I took law classes for 3 years in high school, so I think you would be fine with this.
When in doubt, contact the designer/publisher directly to avoid any legal dispute.

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!

5 Reply by AZERATE (edited by AZERATE 2014-03-24 23:51:33)

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Re: 3d printer legality?

To rephrase:
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the internet. smile

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!

6 Reply by Tomek

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Re: 3d printer legality?

So if the file on thingiverse does not have a license that allowed distribution and sale without licensing, then it is not legal to just charge for the filament and machine time.

That would be like a counterfeit factory just charging "factory time" for pirated hardware.

" If someone else wants to use your work commercially and you have applied an NC license to your work, they must first get your permission."

7 Reply by Tomek

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Re: 3d printer legality?

A lot of CC things do not have the NC part, though. At least I do not always see it explicit. I do not know if it is the standard implied clause for a creative commons item though.

8 Reply by Serin

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Re: 3d printer legality?

I think in this case the spirit of the law would be that 'making any kind of profit from the production of said NC data', again like AZERATE this is just what I gleamed in Highschool legal.

For instance, my Halo game-models are all NC because of Microsoft's non-commercial clause in relation to gaming media.

This is a crowd funding thing that I'm running: http://www.gofundme.com/bvi140 It's for pretty selfish reasons tongue

9 Reply by 3dEOD

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Re: 3d printer legality?

Agreed but for arguement sake ill lay down an example. lets say you go into an office depot with a famous painting, you can copy that on a coppy machine as many times as you want and all they charge you for is the paper and machine use. So in my situation I'm just renting my printer out and they can print what ever they want. Im not trying to beat the system of anything in just curious about all this.

I blow stuff up that blows stuff up.

10 Reply by Tomek (edited by Tomek 2014-03-27 14:32:52)

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Re: 3d printer legality?

3dEOD wrote:

Agreed but for arguement sake ill lay down an example. lets say you go into an office depot with a famous painting, you can copy that on a coppy machine as many times as you want and all they charge you for is the paper and machine use. So in my situation I'm just renting my printer out and they can print what ever they want. Im not trying to beat the system of anything in just curious about all this.

So there are two things that tend to happen. (1) There tend to be contracts that say you must own the information that you are copying. (2) There are copyright exceptions for certain forms of media reproductions.


With the NC CC file you are making use the digital file format and have no way around that. It is the use of this digital file that you are not just "reproducing."

I don't know enough about IP law but I think, yes, you are breaking the spirit of CC NC to be charging people for printing the files. Easiest thing to do? Contact the thingiverse file owner. Tell them you're a small person. Get permission to sell the file.

Can you get away with what you're doing? Absolutely, easily.

11 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: 3d printer legality?

Tomek wrote:

Easiest thing to do? Contact the thingiverse file owner. Tell them you're a small person. Get permission to sell the file.

Brilliant.
Also, just a thought, you could also call some 3D printing services and ask what their policy is on printing thingiverse things.
Here in Chicago we have 2. They charge a rediculous rate. I asked for a rate on a print I had troubles with http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:211657
They were asking $38 plus tax.

If in doubt or have a specific question, you can look up and call Get 3D Printing (in Illinois as well as Ohio) or The 3D Printer Experience in Chicago.

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!

12 Reply by 3dEOD

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Re: 3d printer legality?

Thanks all for your responses on this topic. I was curious but now I am no longer. Hope people dont think im trying to get rich off other peoples work or anything haha.

I blow stuff up that blows stuff up.