Intellectual Property as a Strategic National Industrial Weapon: the Case of 3D Printing.

There is some consensus between such disparate voices as the Economist  on the right and Jeremy Rifkin  on the left that 3D printing, a form of additive manufacturing, represents the “next industrial revolution”. 3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing for making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many successive thin layers of a material. It can be used to make everything from expensive scientific  and engineering tools  to novel biotechnologies.  The U.S. military has already determined that 3D printing represents a strategic advantage on the battlefield.  It is now clear that 3D printing will affect every industry and there is currently considerable debate on its intellectual property (IP) implications. There is some evidence that IP strategies can be used as a strategic national weapon. This articles reviews the U.S. policies relating to 3D printing in that context and finds evidence that China is currently strategically using U.S. patent law to ensure their own national interests for the next industrial revolution.