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Should There Be A Private Copying Levy For 3d Printing?

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Should There Be a Private Copying Levy for 3D Printing? Analysis of Private Copying Levy Consistency with 'Fair Compensation ', the European Union Perspective

I. Background
Three-dimensional (3D) printing as a developing revolutionary technology is no longer exclusive to particular industries such as aerospace, automotive and defense industries. 3D printers are gradually welcomed by individual users and are capable of being manufacturers at home and build various physical objects. In order to build 3D printed objects, users often make copy of others ' work using digital files. These works are protected by intellectual property laws particularly copyright and design laws. Individuals are typically permitted to copy the objects for …show more content…

In the preliminary phase of this essay, I intended to work on a comparative analysis between the US and Canada on PC levy system, but at later stages of the research and due to existing similarities as well as economic imbalance between the two countries this comparative section was ignored. As a substitute I decided to focus only on the European Union perspective.
At the same time, the questionnaire plan was faced with some complexities and difficulties such as, the gap between the 3D technical experts and PC levy authorities that made it very hard to combine these concepts in designing the questionnaire. Also, there was a risk of making people uncomfortable by asking them to provide me data over the PC levies. Consequently, I decided to cancel using this research instrument.

B. Limitations
There were some limitations in conducting this study. First of all, 3D printing is a technical subject that requires in-depth professional study. Secondly, the word limit was a huge barrier in providing a transparent overview on the topic of the essay. And finally, due to the lack of specific EU regulations with regard to the PC levy on 3D printing, it was difficult to analyse findings without having compatible legal standards to fit in.

The remainder of this essay is structured into the following sections: Section II briefly describes 3D printing in its technological context, in Section III, the private copying levy system will be outlined, the

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