ClearCorrect: Intellectual Property, 3D Printing, and the Future of Trade

Abstract

Building upon our recent publication, 3D Printing and Beyond, this paper considers the relationship between intellectual property and trade in the context of 3D printing. This work contends that 3D printing has not only disrupted the discipline of intellectual property, but it has also provided profound challenges for the regulation of trade and globalisation. Part 1 provides a case study of the patent dispute between ClearCorrect and Align Technology as a case study. The ruling of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will have larger ramifications in respect of the jurisdiction of the International Trade Commission in respect of the digital economy. It considers subsequent patent disputes between the parties before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Part 2 considers how 3D printing will be affected by the international trade dispute between the United States and China over intellectual property, innovation policy, and advanced manufacturing. It examines whether 3D printing will reverse the pattern of offshoring of manufacturing in the United States. It notes the collateral impact of tariffs upon 3D printing. It also considers the adoption of 3D printing in China, and the issues that may raise in terms of intellectual property ownership, intellectual property infringement, and intellectual property licensing. Part 3 considers larger contextual issues raised by the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property, the OECD, and the World Economic Forum in respect of intellectual property, trade, and 3D printing. It examines some of the different scenarios in relation to the impact of 3D printing on the future of trade.

Biography

Dr Matthew Rimmer is a Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at the Faculty of Law, at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He is a leader of the QUT Intellectual Property and Innovation Law research program, and a member of the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (QUT DMRC) the QUT Australian Centre for Health Law Research (QUT ACHLR), and the QUT International Law and Global Governance Research Program (QUT IP IL). Rimmer has published widely on copyright law and information technology, patent law and biotechnology, access to medicines, plain packaging of tobacco products, intellectual property and climate change, and Indigenous Intellectual Property. He is currently working on research on intellectual property, the creative industries, and 3D printing; intellectual property and public health; and intellectual property and trade, looking at the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the Trade in Services Agreement. His work is archived at QUT ePrints SSRN Abstracts Bepress Selected Works.

Rimmer is currently working as a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project on “Inventing The Future: Intellectual Property and 3D Printing” (2017-2020). This project aims to provide guidance for industry and policy-makers about intellectual property, three-dimensional (3D) printing, and innovation policy. It will consider the evolution of 3D printing, and examine its implications for the creative industries, branding and marketing, manufacturing and robotics, clean technologies, health-care and the digital economy. The project will examine how 3D printing disrupts copyright law, designs law, trade mark law, patent law and confidential information. The project expects to provide practical advice about intellectual property management and commercialisation, and boost Australia’s capacity in advanced manufacturing and materials science. Along with Dinusha Mendis and Mark Lemley, Rimmer is the editor of the collection, 3D Printing and Beyond (Edward Elgar, 2018).