The Battle Over 3D Printing
June 21, 2012 by dracs
3D Printers have become a great way for companies to consistently produce good quality miniatures. Just put in the design and a short while later you have yourself a completed mini. But what is going to happen now that this technology is becoming more readily available to us, the average none corporate user?
Clive Thompson of the technology news site Wired has written up an article to explain to us the problems such home use could be facing.
Thompson takes the example of one such user named Thomas Valenty, who used a relatively cheap 3D printer to design for himself some "Warhammer-style" miniatures based upon his brother's Imperial Guard. He proceeded to put these designs online so they could be used by others with 3D printers. Games Workshop of course immediately jumped on this, causing the site which hosted the files to take them down.
But this could be just the start of the problems being faced by both companies and those wanting to print out their own miniatures. As Thompson says in his article:
Observers predict that in a few years we'll see printers that integrate scanning capability -- so your kid can toss in a Warhammer figurine, hit copy, and get a new one. The machine will become a photocopier of stuff.
This image, taken from Wikipedia, shows the way in which the technology of 3D printers allows people to make copies of existing items.
With such possibilities appearing on the horizon it is unsurprising that companies such as Games Workshop are determined to protect their products from being copied in this manner, which could lead to much stricter rules regarding the use of 3D printers.
However, all is not so dark for those seeking to use 3D printers to help in their hobby, as Thompson explains.
Disputes over copies of physical objects are often fought using patent law, which is far less strict than copyright. For example, patents last only 20 years, which means many cool everyday objects (Lego bricks!) are long out of patent. What's more, patent law generally governs only a complete assembled product, so creating replacement parts -- a thriving pastime among hobbyists -- is probably legal.
Furthermore, issues such as those surrounding Thomas Valenty's case are something of a grey area, given that he had not directly copied the Games Workshop miniatures, rather making ones that matched with the style of Warhammer 40,000. Which leads one to ask what about all the other companies out there producing their own alternate takes upon Space Marines?
(Indeed, Weinberg isn't even sure Valenty infringed onWarhammer's copyrighted designs, because Games Workshop is accusing him of creating figurines in the style of the game, and you can't copyright style.)
So the future of home 3D printing could be anybody's guess at this time. On the one hand we should respect the company's rights to defend their own product. However, this should not be to the extent that it leads to the curbing of other people's creative use of the tech.
What is your opinion on this issue? How do you think this could pan out for private users?
Obviously this is an industry wide issue (its impact crosses all manufacturing industries potentially), however focusing on GW…
I would say its highly unlikely they own ANY patents on toy soldiers, and its now too late to patent what they already produce as they are already in the public domain… and you cannot copyright a game mechanic… nor can you copyright a ‘style’…
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions…
Nice find Sam
What I actually think we will see in the future is print on demand products from GW, they could cover themselves by making a clause that they are not for resale and then they might actually have some legal legging for knockoffs of those specific products.
I don’t know about that, it’s hard to use the term Space Marine now as GW seem to have copyrighted that term, which I think is unfair as the term has been around since 1939. Sure imho they can copyright the term ‘Adeptus Astartes’ as it’s theirs, but not ‘Space Marine’ as by definition any marine based on a starship is a Space Marine.
Oddly enough I sense a possible repeat of what happened when 2d scanners first became widespread. While yes you will have those individuals who just blatantly try to copy everything and try to sell for a discounted price, you’ll see this die off as there isn’t a guarantee on the quality with these individuals.
But I have to second the notion of making replacement parts, it’s a good idea for conversions for personal use. People have to keep in mind that there is always a tradeoff when you try to mass produce something
Games workshop are normally quite hot on percieved copywrite issues so it was probably a knee jerk reaction. Possible infringment wack with the lawsuit (war)hammer. i could see games workshop trying to control this by jumping on the bandwagon and selling GW 3d printer; expensive GW resin; expensive GW box set limited print runs; same price as normal box set. more than likely they will simply play whack a mole with every shared scanned model. however if someone chooses to copy their minitures in a 3d printer there is not much GW can do especially if the person doesnt shout… Read more »
If 3D printers were at a price point where they can be bought at a reasonable cost then this would be great. The tech is still slightly out of reach but give it a few years.
I dont see this issue killing GW. It would be nice though if itput them in a situation where they actually supplied everything in a kit (like weapon options for a Razorback.)
Like all businesses, technology changes and technology changes the market. We already see GW making some changes by dipping their toe in the digital market. We will have to see if they go all the way and put te 6th edition rules out in digital format. What I envision is GW putting their layouts for thier products in a protected form of some type and selling you the file to use on you own printer. They will also sell you all the other necessary parts such as the resin block or even sell you a 3D printer. I think they… Read more »
Has anyone found a photo of Valenty’s designs? I’d like to see the level of adapting he did before passing judgement here. If he took his own designs or took WW II tanks and scaled them to 40k size with a bit of “warhammer-style” ing then he should be allowed to make what ever he wants. End of story. However, if they are just GW tanks with minor variations (slightly rounded Russ turret or a Chimera turret on a Predator body, etc) he could be guilty of improperly using GWs intellectual property. Imagine the problems Disney would cause a rat… Read more »
We’re still a long way off from this being a serious threat to any of the established players, but I would hope that they’re thinking about this. I think, for a while at least, you’ll see companies try to sell designs that you can print at home. Not everyone has a 3D modeler and not every knows how to use one (it’s not a trivial skill). Sure, 3D scanners can theoretically make a copy, but they’re never perfect when you go that route, and it will be a long time before they are. High fidelity copies of any mini are… Read more »
I hope companies decide to integrated a 3d printing distribution network as part of the market strategy instead of being against it like what the media companies did until there was no other way than integrate it. Papercraft terrain companies integrate the printers as part of their business model, i can’t understand why it can’t be done with miniatures. Is just because you don’t want to adapt your business model to the new reality ? The only reason because people ended up doing this is because is far more eaiser, fast and afordable when you need to pay a lot… Read more »
One of the immediate barriers to a kind of 3d printer free-for-all is the fact that you need to be at least somewhat familiar with the CAD software and 3d modeling. GW might be able to prevent the distribution of 3d blueprints based on their designs, but there is nothing stopping people from making their own and running off a complete army of they have the time and talent. On that note. What we’re seeing here is the future of manufacturing. Lobbyists in the U.S. must be going nuts over this technology, but ultimately, it’s like sticking a finger in… Read more »
any one else get visions of a wargames black market full of 3d printed GW stuff?
Not really, at least not for very long. I don’t think the copyright issues are the bigger deal for our hobby. Most wargames are already free and can use miniatures made by anyone (because most wargames are still historic and distributed online). Most players are paying GW, Privateer, Warlord, Wyrd or whoever to play what is really only a tiny minority of the actual rulesets available. In the short term, this will be a copyright issue with piracy, lawsuits and vague definitions of fair use all coming into play. In the long term, this is the end of big gaming… Read more »
You can already buy chinese copies of GW products on ebay for half the price. So this will not be so new.
If GW were clever, they would embrace this as a new method of producing their *own* content. Look at the rapid turnaround of design-to-print on conversion bits that Puppets War has managed. I feverishly dream of a world where GW hires their own bullpen of talented 3D sculptors to create conversion sets for their own products. As a large company, they have the resources to purchase the high-end UV/Powder printers with the best resolution, and can start producing kits to, for instance, convert Cadians into Traitor Guard (while I’m dreaming, they can even style them to fit with different patron… Read more »
That would be a great thing, but lets take it even further. If GW thinks about it they don’t need to hire anyone to do the conversion kits. There are many small companies out in the web selling conversion kits. If GW where to give a out reached hand to them and say they will support them by having that company link on their website. In exchange all conversions for GW models will have the name and link to the GW online store so they can buy the real model with the conversion kit. This could be like the advertising… Read more »
It’s a nice thought, but why would GW do that? They clearly don’t care much about their image, or they don’t think they have an image problem (which they really don’t. Most of their customers have no idea about their business practices). They don’t really profit from supporting 3rd party addons, and they don’t really need the promotion from those 3rd parties (GW players already buy GW stuff, seeing an ad next to an aftermarket kit isn’t going to sell more rhinos). Hell GW barely does anything to promote themselves as it is. Technically the customer pays to consume most… Read more »
Agreed, but let’s face it, everybody wishes that GW would at least put some effort into advertising. Remember the trailer for Lord Inquisitor? Of course you do, because that was single handedly the greatest source of cinematic material GW ip has been the subject of in many years, even though it was not even created by GW. It was just an ordinary fan with enough balls to publicly release a trailer on the internet and hope the least they did to him was send him a cease and desist. He got lucky that they actually took their pants off of… Read more »
I second that plus I add something:
Before GW is even considering doing something like printable conversion sprues or similar, someone else will already have come up with that and it will be freely available somewhere.
The community will be far ahead of GW (as always) and if anything GW will fight with everything they have against such print-yourself versions of anything related to their products.
Something to add to the mix here. The models themselves are not just a product in isolation, they are all part of the bigger picture which includes the background, illustration, managing of all the story material – the complete fluff behind a game. Many of the models are amazing but even more fun to play due to the story behind them. If 3rd parties want to make replacement or alternative versions, with no reflection of the original games companies models, then that is good for the industry. More is good. Coping is bad. Artists train and are employed at great… Read more »
Its an interesting subject. Like copying and scanning codex’ et al , there will no doubt be segments of the players that copy stuff, but I doubt it will ever get to the point of impacting the bottom line of the bigger companies like GW and PP, especially with the prevelance of the multipart multi use plastic kits both those companies have shifted towards, they have so many options that most players will want the proper kits over the copy of a specific made up model. It could , in time, hurt the smaller specialists though, much tighter margins based… Read more »
Don’t forget, you could copy the sprues as well …
Interesting stuff. I’ve been following the development of 3D printing for a number of years now. Where issues like this will be decided is more likely to be in the realm of consumer electronics or designer goods (this will also see the rise of a new counterfit economy similar to ones that have been seen in developing economies). The reason for this is that the ‘pioneers’ of the development of this technology aren’t concerned with making these devices into affordable, home equipment. Rather, they are working on systems that can hadndle other materials- metals, composites etc. There is also a… Read more »
For the manufacturers (who all make money by selling minis – not rules) this does pose a problem and is worth thinking about now, I can see it as a possibility not only to copy minis, but entire sprues as well. One can only hope they tackle it in a positive manner… I just hope that when it does become more viable for the general public (in the mean time we’ll see more businesses selling the service, perhaps even at your local art/photo/print shop before too long) – either way it’s only going to become more widespread. I always feel… Read more »
I don’t want to start slinging mud or anything but saying: “Yet having said that I know I’d probably, if I had access, print some minis as well – it’s no different to recording films or copying songs – you’re not meant to do it by the strictest sense of the law yet they cannot possibly enforce such a law when the person doing the copying isn’t advertising the fact and making money out of it. ” Does that mean if there are no police around and no speed cameras around it’s ok to speed? Yeah you might get away… Read more »
It’s okay to sling a little mud every now and again 🙂 All I was really saying was that if having a 3D printer became like having an ordinary one then people would use it, much like recording films off TV became normal with the invention of the VCR…and it seems an invention almost tailor-made for the mini industry – there aren’t many objects that can simply be copied as most have a function beyond the printer’s capabilities. I have no problem with people making money from what they create (far from it) – and I said I’d still pay… Read more »
Right now these printers mostly use powdered materials very much like resin. So there is no real waste of material and the quality and durability is pretty much the same as if you order something from a company that produces miniatures in resin. By the time these printers are in our homes I would imagine that there is no real difference in quality, detail and durability. And that’s the point in my opinion. There will be loads of people out there printing their own stuff. Of course commercial mass production will still be a lot cheaper per model but the… Read more »
Most people forget most 3D Printers are used for rapid prototyping not mass producing. the material used by the printer can stand up to say the everyday use of a cast forged wrench. but the printed wrench could be used to make said wrench’s mold. Now I might work great for say a small company like Hirst Arts to make the Molds easier. This isnt saying all 3d printers are like this but most the object after painting and with careful handling might last around 2-3 years. some printers can even melt down/de-glue the previous object to reuse the material.… Read more »
Also they might have problems with Adeptus Astartes as that is an ancient roman term that was modified by dropping the accents.
Here in America, you can record a movie on HBO, for example, and keep it for your own personal use. You can’t sell that movie, that would get you into legal trouble. You can do the same thing with music on the radio. I think if you used a 3D printer for your own personal use, no one can stop you. It doesn’t violate anything, since you do not make money off of the sale of the products. People scratch build things all the time. I saw a picture of a Forge World Chaos Hell Blade fighter that someone scratch… Read more »
This subject touches on a few issues. The key points here are technology, business models and economics. Starting with economics, right now this technology is out of reach for the average person. Arguably you’d have to have a great deal of spare time and money to buy this equipment, the materials and to scan/design the objects. If we start drifting into the hundreds of man-hours and hundreds to thousands of dollars to produce realm, this won’t become a widespread issue. Technology advances and sub markets sometimes fall victim to it. I live about an hour and a half from the… Read more »
Just a minor note – The ‘let them eat cake’ is wrongly attributed to Antoinette, and the original speaker actually mean the opposite: far from being a distant idiot they were suggesting that cake (brioche) be reduced in price to that of bread, so the poor *could* afford it.
You’re entirely right though – the industry is changing. However, with my cynics hat on that’s why they are hiking prices: make hay while the sun shines. It’s a limited hobby so they’re soaking an ever shrinking pool.
I really don’t think copying and printing will be an initial issue. It takes skill to make the 3d files for printers, and I suspect 3d scanner technology will take an even longer time to show up in homes. So the first issue would be a talented 3d artist making a copy file of an existing product and distributing that file freely or for sale. Here is the thing if the talented person instead makes his own design and distributes that freely or sells it reasonably priced you have something to be excited about. We the gamers then can make… Read more »
There is a reason to be worried…we forget that games companies give us a common rule set…that enables us to play people we have never met. As much as I hate paying higher prices, I in fact do enjoy the community that is built around the games I do enjoy and play. If creating a better rule set is in fact so easy…why have we not seen any good ones? I disagree and think that copying and printing miniatures and terrain will be a much bigger issue until there is a suitable distribution model in place. Hopefully the companies do… Read more »
There are common rule sets out there already that aren’t made by miniatures companies. Some of them are used pretty frequently in tournaments (DBM being maybe the most well-known). There are plenty of freely available rule sets already available as well. We don’t need GW to have common rule sets. And better is obviously a subjective idea. I personally find 40k (5th ed.) really boring and I outright hate WFB’s rules. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but I don’t have to. I play plenty of games that you don’t and vice versa, and we all enjoy our… Read more »
At the moment you can do 3D scanning with a webcam and a piece of software. If you have an XBox with Kinect you already have the basic 3D scanning technology at home.
It is inevitable that this technology will be part of our hobby, Games Workshop as well as other companies will need to re evaluate their whole model of business if they wish to be successful, The company that does this the best will be king in the war gaming industry. The music industry did not collapse it changed…and so will war-gaming, I personally look forward to seeing where it goes.
I agree with the general sentiment. Our hobby will not collapse. But I think the major companies will. This hobby can thrive without any commercial support. We do not need GW or Privateer or any of them. I really think this hobby could do just fine without major companies driving the rules and products. The music industry is not collapsing, but the recording industry is. Major labels are dying, slowly but surely, their revenues falling more and more each year. Many musicians are doing just fine. Many of them are doing better on their own than they would if they… Read more »
I would *love* to see GW challenged in the courts. Eight pointed star of chaos? Moorcock. Patented the ‘tank’? Yes, some is their own work, primarchs, the eye of terror, specific chaos gods but it’s all a universe someone else has fed into. Power armour? Heinlein. Power weapons? Star wars. They’ve built on the work of others and tweaked it a bit. That’s fine, but it doesn’t hold water. AS for 3d scanning, one day I’ll nip off to GW, buy a tank and come home to print five more. However, a sad bit of me knows they already know… Read more »
I appreciate the different views that we are all sharing, I guess I am just not as cynical as some about GW or other gaming manufactures… I appreciate the fact that I can go to any gaming store and find an opponent in these game…I have been playing 40k since Rogue Trader, I have seen many incarnations of this beast. (I really do not wish to re hash the “Walked both ways up hill to school metaphors”). I agree that a shift is happening, that the internet has made distribution so easy that Individuals can compete in the market place…In… Read more »
As stated in another comment already, my local store isn’t really just a store. They have a coffee shop and cafe. There are tables that are big enough to game at (played part of a Warmahordes escalation tournament there today) and there are tables that are just normal cafe tables like you would find at any other coffee shop. Most of their revenue comes from selling food and drinks, and the actual sales of games is supplemental. Right now, that sales revenue is essential to them staying in business, but I could easily see them restructuring their business to shift… Read more »
Actually, he’s wrong. What a copyright protects is a specific expression of a thing. In other words, style. Or as a favorite guitarist/songwriter of mine once said, “copy from somebody else, and it’s called plagiarism. Copy from yourself, and it’s called style.” That’s a simplification since style in many ways cannot be copyrighted, but expression is to a great extent style, so his comment is un-studied or uninformed at best. What copyright does not protect is an idea. Ideas belong to everybody. As an artist, who still sculpts the old fashioned way, and is trying to feed my kid doing… Read more »
The guitar didn’t always exist. When it first came into existence, most “serious” musicians who heard it when it was still new hated it. For the Europeans, it was less melodic than a lyre, lute or mandolin. For the North Africans it was less elegant than a sitar. Then those people all died and everyone else started playing whatever instrument they could get their hands on. Guitars are just tools for making music. They’re not the source of the music. The musician is. An artist creates art. They do it with hard work, discipline and whatever you choose to believe… Read more »
Funnily enough I was just reading about something similar regarding copyright laws… (thank you cracked) apparently in the US there is something called “first sale doctrine”… i.e. once you own something you are free to do whatever you want with it… in the case presented it had to do with resale of goods acquired overseas. I’m guessing there are similar rules around the world. Point is, it seems that this 3D printer case is another attempt (and this one; http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/kirtsaeng-v-john-wiley-sons-inc/) where producers of goods are trying to control the goods, intellectual or otherwise, from production to disposal. Regarding 3D printers,… Read more »
The doctrine of first sale does not really apply to the case at hand. What the doctrine of first sale says, basically, is that I can take the product I’ve purchased and resell it to someone else without violating the copyright. I cannot, however, sell or distribute a copy that I made from the original without violating copyright. First sale is what makes ebay auctions and used book sales legal. The doctrine of first sale was conceived of during a time when all media was physical too. Since the advent of digital copying the concept of first sale has been… Read more »
Wow. Looks like the “replicator” will arrive a few centuries ahead of scheduled 🙂