The perception from some corners of the world regarding 3D printing might be that not too long ago everyone was communing in a rather unspoiled and lawless state of sharing where all the tinkerers and hackers got along swimmingly as they worked on and even helped each other to improve a veritable gold mine of inventions.
Truthfully though, from the bigger picture, patents have been running the show behind the scenes since the beginning, with many of them just expiring and perhaps loosening the reins overall. But it would seem as one patent expires, many more little ones are now being argued over or being created faster than anyone can keep track. And with a growing population of geniuses producing an overflow of brilliant and sometimes similar ideas, controversies are bound to erupt, ruining the party for everyone–and maybe even allowing copyright and intellectual property issues to put the lid on true innovation. read more here