As 3D Printing gains further recognition and is believed by many to be ‘the new revolution of making things’, copyright issues continue to raise concerns amongst designers and other IPO holders. While the internet brings many benefits it also allows for easy distribution of illegal design blueprints and profligate piracy.
UK based FABULONIA is on a mission to fight against this issue, and today the organization is presenting its concept at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The FABULONIA solution promises protection for all necessary steps required from upload of 3D designs through storage to distribution. FABULONIA uses new patent-pending technologies including Collaborative Copyright Technology and Secure 3D Streaming. Old Digital Rights Management schemes have been left in the past, and as FABULONIA calls it, it’s “a consumer and ecosystem friendly approach to copyrights.”
FABULONIA’s solution is designed specifically for enterprises and designers, and it offers marketplaces where any original design rights holder can operate and offer customization and sales of 3D originals. The system also allows different levels of copyright protection, including free unlimited distribution or paid licenses. FABULONIA offers marketplace hosting, but hosting can also be done via private cloud space.
A great 3D printing solution should satisfy three critical needs to be successful. According to Kimmo Isbjörnssund, CEO of FABULONIA: “Creativity, customization and originality are all needed. This nascent industry is still too technology driven. Consumers are not interested in CAD or STL files. They want a simple way to discover their favorite brands and designers or high-quality originals that are easily and affordably available. Consumers are willing to pay for good design because it adds value to things around us. FABULONIA connects brands and designers with these consumers. The freedom of 3D printing can continue and designers rely on making a living. Without original designs there wouldn’t be enough consumer interest in 3D printing so FABULONIA is just helping the market grow.”
FABULONIA has already attracted a number of designers — shown in their demo. These include Finnish designer Ilkka Suppanen (Red Dot award winner) and jewellery designers Kristian Saarikorpi and Petri Pulliainen. A large creative community, based in Barcelona and founded by Hong Kong born Cecilia Tham, is also shown and they are planning to launch original 3D design services with FABULONIA. According to the organization, there are also on-going discussions taking place with several enterprises to take their 3D original designs business securely online, equipping them for the imminent rise of consumer 3D printing.
If you are interested to know more about FABULONIA, please visit their website or, if you are in Barcelona (or close by), go see their booth (Hall 8, stand 8.1C40) at Mobile World Congress this week.
About FABULONIA
FABULONIA is the world’s first company to protect designer copyrights in 3D printing while preserving creative freedom. We use a proprietary, non-DRM Collaborative Copyright Technology. FABULONIA’s vision is to become the original 3D designs network of the world, a friendly ecosystem partner and a trusted global source of authentic 3D designs. FABULONIA provides curated originals marketplaces and business solutions for leading brands and designers. FABULONIA is a Finnish-Estonian startup with offices in Estonia and UK and has global ambitions. It is founded and headed by Kimmo Isbjörnssund, ex-Nokia employee and Finnish citizen. Isbjörnssund is the inventor of FABULONIA’S core innovations together with company Chief Technology Officer Anton Vedeshin(Obtaining PhD in Cloud Computing).
Well, good luck on that… I have a hard time understanding how a company wants to try this out when it hasn’t been a solution for the music, video or photo industry. Copyright laws and licenses are enough.
If you want to DRM a design, just give it to the people you want to give it to, crypt it with a key, keep it secret, that’s always the best solution.
DRMs are breakable, and before you know it (even more knowing the close links between maker and hacker communities) someone will come up with a DRM remover on the pirate bay or another.
Imagine you DRM a design, only allowing the user to print it once. Nothing will stop the user from scanning the part once printed, and reprint it afterwards.
Not convinced, probable failure in the making
+1 agreed
There are a few flaws in the assumptions this organization makes. The biggest false assumption (stated as fact?) is that customers will PAY for good design. There are already vast sources of really good designs which are free. So, why would anyone pay? If a free design is almost as good as a design which costs, people will choose the free one. The few people who will pay for items from high end designers won’t own a 3-D printer, because they’re accustomed to either purchasing at a store or having their personal shopper purchase for them. For those people, time is worth more than money. True, they won’t want to mess with .STL files, but they equally don’t want to spend the time fiddling with a 3-D printer.
This sales pitch is geared to address the valid fears of manufacturers who believe 3-D printing is going to negatively impact their businesses. They’re right. It will hurt them, but only because their business models are antiquated and should slowly fade into oblivion anyway. You can’t prop up a defunct industry forever. Our history is littered with industries that disappeared because progress replaced them with more efficient methods. For a ton of simple items, the packaging, shipping, and warehousing of the items costs 10 times what the item costs to make and wastes incredible quantities of resources getting it into the customer’s hands. It makes perfect sense that those items will be manufactured at home in the future. If I worked in the manufacturing of simple objects, I’d be retraining myself for a different career as soon as possible. Big change is coming.
Basically, this idea will fail because, like the recording industry, they are not considering the psychology of the customers. The vast majority of customers have very limited resources. Any time they can get something they want for free, they jump on it, unless it’s complete garbage. Communities of people who own 3-D printers will design items for one another and leave dinosaur industries out of the loop completely. It’s been proven that invasive digital rights management only alienates the customers who would actually buy the products. In this case, very few would buy the products, even without DRM. So, it’s going to be a double fail.
The other problem comes from dinosaur companies who believe they can charge the same price for a digital file as they can for a finished product. Somehow they think people are stupid enough to not realize how much the company is saving by not making, storing, and shipping the product. They expect that savings to be reflected in a lower price. The old dinosaur publishing companies tried this tactic when ebooks first came out. People saw through this profit grab attempt and didn’t start buying ebooks until they were the price of a paperback or lower. Since they lowered the price to something more reasonable, ebooks have taken off like a rocket.
Think about it. It’s ridiculous to think people would pay the same price for a spatula design that they pay for a spatula in a store. People like me, who already own 3-D printers know it’s simple to just design and print one yourself for the cost of materials. We can trade designs with friends who’ve done the same thing for other items like spoons. This just highlights how ridiculous it is for the designs of common objects to be “owned” by one company or individual.
I wouldn’t sink a dime into this idea, because crowd-sourced free designs will put them out of business.