who developed a device that was successful in ex-
tracting the last few drops from a cosmetics tube. After designing the tube squeezer , he posted a pro-
totype on a community website for 3-D printer de-
signs. Within hours, several 3-D print enthusiasts in
Europe had downloaded the design and made the
tool. As of October 2010, over 500 downloads were
performed (Stemp-Morlock, 2010). Shapeways (www .shapeways.com) and Ponoko
(www .ponoko.com) are two firms that undertake
production, logistics, and billing functions for design-
ers. After accepting a product design, Shapeways– —a
division of Royal Philips Electronics– —computes the
cost of making the design on its industrial 3-D print-
ers. The designer sets the retail price and receives
the gross profit, less a 3.5% fee. Shapeways’ website
currently features items designed by 30,000 people
(Olivarez, 2010). On the negative side, the availability of CAD
design software descriptions on the Web has signifi-
cant implications for intellectual property security . Since objects are described digitally , they can very
easily be copied and resold. A major fear is that
shortly after a product’s blueprints are posted on a
website, product clones or pirated products will
appear on the market. This is a particular concern
for firms with large sales of replacement parts such
as appliance lids, control knobs, and plastic product
housings. Some writers have noted the need for
governments to tighten existing intellectual prop-
erty rules due to the ease of copying designs through
3-D printing technologies (‘ ‘Print Me,’’ 2011).