Free 3D-Printable Kit To Connect Different Toy Construction Sets Released -- But Partially Blocked Due To Patents
from the think-of-the-IP-lawyers dept
I've been hearing about this project for a few months now, and I'm excited to see that it's finally been released. F.A.T. Lab and Sy-Lab have officially released their Free Universal Construction Kit, a set of 3D printer instructions for creating nearly 80 awesome "adapter" bricks that let you connect ten (sort of) popular children's construction playsets:Of course, that raises the big question: what about intellectual property law with this offering? The non-commercial nature of it likely protects them against trademark issues, though it does seem silly that actually offering such useful connector blocks for sale might put you in legal hot water. Either way, I know the guys who put this together spent a ridiculous amount of time exploring the different legal issues involved here, and have put up a detailed discussion on them -- with a clear recognition that even after being as careful as possible to not infringe on anyone's rights, they still have to note:
Some may express concern that the Free Universal Construction Kit infringes such corporate prerogatives as copyright, design right, trade dress, trademarks or patents of the supported toy systems. We encourage those eager to enforce these rights to please think of the children — and we assert that the home printing of the Free Universal Construction Kit constitutes protected fair use.Furthermore, they have a pretty full discussion on how the use of IP here is not about protecting rights at all, but about attempting to gain market dominance:
Of course, there's still the issue of patents... and there the folks behind this project also did something interesting. In that list of supported toys are two -- Zoob and Zome -- that are technically still under patent protection. To deal with those two, the kit actually does not include connectors to either of those toys. Instead, both have a pending date, to be released on the day those patents expire. In other words, progress and the ability to interoperate with those toys must wait until the monopolies expire. Progress is being hindered, not promoted here.Today’s manufacturers have little or no intrinsic motivation to make their products compatible with anyone else’s. Indeed—despite obvious benefits to users everywhere—the implementation of cross-brand interoperability can be nearly impossible, given the tangled restrictions of patents, design rights, and trademarks involved in doing so. So we stepped up. The Free Universal Construction Kit is the VLC of children’s playsets.
As we can see from the example above, interoperability is a question of power and market dominance. Most market leaders regard interoperability as an anti-competitive nuisance, a regulatory check on their ambition, or a concession to the whining of lesser players. Quite simply, interoperability is the request of the disenfranchised. And which end-user, in so many ways, is less enfranchised than a preliterate child?
The simple fact is that no toy company would ever make the Free Universal Construction Kit. Instead, each construction toy wants (and indeed, pretends) to be your only playset. Within this worldview, the other manufacturers’ construction sets are just so many elephants in the room, competing for your attention on the shelves of Toys-R-Us. No longer. The Free Universal Construction Kit presents what no manufacturer could: a remedy providing extensible, post-facto syntactic interoperability for construction toys. Let the fun begin!
We've discussed in the past how 3D printing is an upcoming legal battle, as many of the issues that previously arose solely the digital realm will be crossing over into the physical. We've also noted how The Pirate Bay has already stepped up with plans to offer a place to share 3D printable plans -- and, indeed, the folks behind this project note that it will soon be up on that site, when it's ready.
The more you look at this, the more it makes you wonder what else simply isn't being done today due to over-aggressive desire for control via IP laws, rather than recognition that making a product more valuable and useful is actually a good thing.
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Filed Under: 3d printing, adapters, bristle blocks, construction sets, copyrights, duplo, fischertechnik, gears, innovation, krinkles, lego, lincoln logs, patents, playsets, tinkertoys, toys, trademarks, universal construction kit, zome, zoob
Reader Comments
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FUCK?
Maybe they should have thought of the children before giving their product a name with an acronym of FUCK.
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Re: FUCK?
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WTF!?
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Re: FUCK?
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Re: Not Free!
Exactly! Why did they do such a stupid thing?
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Re: Re: FUCK?
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Re: FUCK?
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*No, not really.
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Re:
Now, if given the choice, even if he likes the theme for the megablocks set, he will pass on them.
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the expression about the cream rising to the crop didn't come from nowhere
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And of course every home has a 3D printer sitting in the office.
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That said, along with Mike, I wonder what the IP extremists and companies will do when these kits become more popular and available and the price of 3D printers decline.
Just think of all the "piracy" that's going to occur!!!
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Re: Re:
Compare the 3D-printer to a rampant pedophile... or start locking it out from the markets due to possible children hazard (See Kinder Surprise).
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Ignore their toys and it's considered 'anti-consumer'
Acknowledge their toy and it's considered 'collusion'
They can either look bad or get sued by the government
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Even if those examples are poor, the point still stands--there is much opportunity for competing companies to make products that work together w/o collusion.
For collusion to exist, there would need to be a major outcome such as keeping prices high, forcing other players out of the market or etc.
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I thought that "collusion" was an agreement between two or more parties to limit competition through lawbreaking, price-fixing, fraud, and the like.
Simply acknowledging a competitor and offering interoperability with it would not seem to be an example of collusion.
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extruded plastic Singularity
I don't know how big the 3D printing community is, but I have to wonder how long it will take for these connectors to appear "in the wild".
Heck, how long until plans for replicas of Lego bricks appear, or the entirety of Duplo is pulled in. Imagine not having to buy a 500-piece set to get the three rare pieces that constitute the entire creative novelty of the latest kit. How long until actual hybrids appear, not just adaptors. An online ecology of evolving toy construction sets.
I gotta go lie down.
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Am I the only one getting massive sense of irony here?
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Evolution of Santa
"Honey, we can't get you the F.U.C.K. set, because Santa told his Elves that they are not allowed to make it."
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Re: Evolution of Santa
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The future...
Kids will go to each other and ask their childhood playmates "Does anyone wanna F.U.C.K.?"
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Internet-only cable TV, sales (not rental) of movies in a digital format that will play on any device, being able to access a studio's entire catalog of movies/shows, on-demand viewing of all TV shows, being able to connect any two entertainment devices together, playing movie discs from any country, being able to make backup copies of legally purchased media...
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Kind of useless...
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Re: Kind of useless...
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Non-free, I'll pass
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Childhood dream
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What "legal battle"?
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What "legal battle"?
It's no "counterfeiting" if you don't copy the logo.
Someone may threaten litigation, but they're not going to win. There have been zero lawsuits in this area, as far as I can tell.
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