[digital-copyright] Re: 3D printing

["Corbett, Hillary" <h.corbett@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks, all, for your very helpful and thoughtful responses on the question of
3D printing, and suggestions of places to find more information. I agree that
there are patent considerations here as well as copyright issues; it sounds
like I'll need to involve our tech transfer experts on this topic as well, as
I am certainly not as well versed in patent law.

The what-if example of printing a gun and who's liable if it's used to shoot
someone is one that seems to come up a lot, although it's (I hope) more of a
thought experiment than a likely reality. Taking the gun printing example to
its next logical point  if I observe someone printing what appears to be a
handgun, where is the line between responsible monitoring and assumption of
criminal intent before the fact?  And whose responsibility is this kind of
monitoring? A work-study student who sits by the printer? So many questions
The suggestion was made at one point here to have the printer be viewable
behind glass, so people could see it in action, although I don't know where
that ended up in the design plan  to me there is a privacy concern there;
although our AUP states that there should be no expectation of privacy when
using campus information systems, in the library we feel a little differently
about privacy. I anticipate there is a definite culture difference to be
negotiated here.

Also, my apologies if the URL for our AUP came through strangely  cut and
paste demons are to blame for that.

Best,
Hillary

-------
Hillary Corbett
Scholarly Communication Librarian | University Copyright Officer
Northeastern University
360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
v: 617.373.2352 | f: 617.373.5409
h.corbett@xxxxxxx<mailto:h.corbett@xxxxxxx>