Published at LXer:

The US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has granted a patent to US IP licensing company Intellectual Ventures on a process designed to prevent illegal copying via 3D printers and other rapid manufacturing techniques. Patent number 8,286,236 refers to a manufacturing control system for the layered creation of objects, for instance via CAD construction files. The patented technology uses a digital watermark verification mechanism to ensure, for example, that a printer will only reproduce an object if the user is entitled to do so.

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