Update: June 23rd, 2017 6:52pm ET
“Just 3D Print has been cleared of any wrongdoing in its monetization of copyright-free open-source designs and several press outlets that claimed we were infringing on copyrights in said activities have paid us damages as their statements were entirely without merit.” – Ryan Simms, Founder, CEO, Just 3D Print
Louise Driggers, a well-known designer in the 3D printing community uploaded a model of a sad face to Thingiverse on Feb 18, 2016 with a message that shook the 3D printing maker community.
The skinny is, an eBay seller called Just3DPrint has over 2,000 items from Thingiverse listed for sell without any permission to use photos or attribution to the original designs and basically violating CC licenses.
We’ve been following the ordeal since Louise posted about it on Google+.
https://plus.google.com/102004222620592293275/posts/E24AfKAmSsU
Thingiverse / Makerbot recently posted an article on their blog and said they’re investigating the situation and looking to take action on the violations.
MakerBot is committed to protecting the rights of its community members. In the case of the eBay seller mentioned above, our legal team is preparing communication to the appropriate parties. Since MakerBot does not own the content that our users upload to Thingiverse, we also encourage community members who recognize third party conduct that violates their CC licenses to contact the platforms that are harboring such behavior.[1] We are happy to answer any questions that we can at this time and provide assistance.
There have been multiple articles about it on various blogs:
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/22/ask-hackaday-selling-cad-prints-that-are-not-yours/
http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/23/3d-printing-company-scrapes-thingiverse-and-begins-selling-free-designs/
https://all3dp.com/makers-uproar-poached-thingiverse-models-ebay/
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20160221-3d-printing-community-rallies-against-ebay-store-selling-3d-prints-of-thingiverse-designs.html
https://3dprinterchat.com/2016/02/whos-3d-model-is-it/
http://3dprint.com/120727/ebay-licensing-3d-models/
http://3dprintingindustry.com/2016/02/19/67013/
Dozens of folks have posted makes of Louise’ “Sad Face” to show their support.
We, like many others, admire and respect Louise Driggers work. By posting sad face on Thingiverse, she used the Thingiverse platform to raise awareness and cause attention to the situation, which is a great tactic. Multiple complaints have been filed to the eBay sellers by various people and designers in the community are coming together to help stop the violations. Although Louise has succeeded in having the eBay sellers take down her Aria dragon model, there’s still thousands of stolen designs listed.
We’re keeping an eye on the situation and know folks in the community are taking action.
We contributed by posting a remix of sad face here:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1361239
