When I was twelve,  the future was food replication, or communication through a little black device that would take me on adventures through space with a pointy eared alien.

It’s, *cough*, thirty odd years later, and I still don’t have my food replicator but I do have that little black communicator which I use primarily as a tool for taking photographs of my dog, but I digress. What the future promised 20 years ago is already coming true with 3D printing.

We’re printing everything from delicate jewelry to parts meant to run motorized vehicles and soon even human organs will be etched out via a machine to reproduce a missing kidney or replenish missing tissue after a burn or disease takes over a limb.

People all over the world are experiencing the manufacturing process on a personal  and affordable scale using 3D printers you can purchase off the internet.  Early adopters are putting today’s printers to the test, and Write Vault wonders if the artists at the heart of creating these designs,  protect their work.

Digital material, produced at the exploding rate 3D printing has reached today,  is difficult to protect.  It’s very easy to take, distribute for resale, and collect profits off someone else’s work.

The fastest way to protect a pattern, be it an object meant for a 3D printer or even a knitting pattern for a special scarf, is to time stamp its creation. At Write Vault, a user can upload zip files that contain process files or 3D program patterns, or whatever it is you think you should include to time stamp and protect your creation.

Imagine finding out that a company or individual was reselling your patterns without permission but you hadn’t reached the trademark point of your journey. Imagine sending a cease and desist letter with a Write Vault certificate number attached to it, and that number that can be publicly verified right from the home page.

We don’t have all the answers, and we can’t predict what a content thief might do, but we do know that any amount of evidence in your corner is better than zero.  You should take us for a tour, membership is free, simply add credits when you’re ready.

Contact us if you have any questions.

And now for some of our favorite 3D printing related links:

Own your own printer; Desktop compact 3D Printers by MakerBot

If you don’t have a printer: Ponoka takes and prints your designs, shipping as fast as in 4 days

Join the revolution by attending the 2015 3D Printer World Expo. (2014 has concluded with great success)

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