This special issue presents international legal issues and risks inherent in the deployment of 3D printing.
The growing use of 3D printing or additive manufacturing, in all sectors of the economy induces a questioning of the plan of the law of intellectual property, liability law for défectuositédes products or the law of data staff.
Members of the network Lexing® intend to establish, in this issue, an analytical assessment of the situation in the following countries: South Africa, Germany, Belgium, China, France, Greece and the United Kingdom.
In France in particular, 3D printing is relevant: exhibition of 3D printing in Lieu du Design in Paris, insertion of 3D printing in the 34th industrial plan called “The Factory of the Future”, launched by the Presidency of the Republic in 2013, introduced by the amending Finance Act for 2015 of an exceptional damping device for 24 months for 3D printers acquired or created by SMEs between 1 October 2015 and 31 December 2017.
Two legal issues are at work: the protection of creations against unauthorized copies printed and responsibility-induced defect printed products. Anne-Sophie Cantreau was particularly committed to meet the cross-cutting issues raised by these two major issues.