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ARTICLE · 01 MAY 2015

3D Printing And Intellectual Property Rights In Canada

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
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At its simplest, 3D printing is the production of objects utilizing a printer that brings an object into existence by laying down successive layers of materials (typically plastic or metal).

CanadaIntellectual Property
Kathleen Lemieux
Kathleen Lemieux
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In December of 2014, no less than the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) demonstrated how far 3D printing, a decades-old technology, had advanced when a 3D printer on the International Space Station (ISS) was used to print a ratchet wrench utilizing a design file transmitted from earth to the ISS printer.

A resulting celebratory statement by Niki Werkheiser, the ISS 3D printer program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama was published at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/3Dratchet_wrench/.

"In less than a week, the ratchet was designed, approved by safety and other NASA reviewers, and the file was sent to space where the printer made the wrench in four hours."

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