New MakerWorld Copyright Protection Scheme Helps You Fight IP Abuse
Following its closed beta, MakerWorld's copyright protection scheme is opening up to more users. In exchange for platform exclusivity, you get a centralized mechanism to report, collect evidence, and support cases.
It is no secret that the copyright in the 3D printing space is a big mess. You make content, share the content, signal your intent with a license on that content, and then it ends up on Temu or Etsy anyway, sold by someone else making a quick buck off your bright idea. Marry that thought with the fact that, for many 3D printer manufacturers, offering 3D model repositories and things to do with your 3D printer has become a key part of the business. Incentive structures encourage you to upload high quality content and be rewarded for it, but often the content still ends up getting ripped off. What’s a platform to do?
Get organized, apparently, which is seemingly a core part of MakerWorld’s new Creator Copyright Protection Program. Designed to tackle exactly the situation of exclusive models being picked off and flogged to death by scrupulous pirates, MakerWorld’s reporting system and a growing network of “international partners” – currently listed as CopyrightShark, and FirstBrave, two IP protection agencies based in the U.S. and China, respectively – is gearing up to do some of the takedown work on your behalf.
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We caught a glimpse of this system late last year, when MakerWorld announced it was taking legal action against other model repositories. Launched initially in closed beta, the Creator Copyright Program remains a core perk of MakerWorld’s broader exclusivity program. A MakerWorld blog post today has announced that it will be lowering the barrier to entry, gradually opening up to more users who have opted into the platform’s exclusivity program.
How Does It Work?
Submitting a request for model protection happens through MakerWorld’s profile system, and is only accessible to those who have opted into MakerWorld’s exclusivity program. The initiative is in beta still, and only users with more than 300 followers on the platform are currently eligible to use it. The language in the blog post suggests a low and slow approach as the system is scaled, with a further lowering of the barrier to entry later. Enrolled users can apply for protections on their exclusive models up to 10 times per week.
If you are enrolled in the Creator Copyright Program and request copyright claim help, you need to provide additional information, including personal details, as well as proof you actually have ownership of the model in question. A dashboard for open and ongoing claims is present, with areas to submit evidence and documentation, the nature of which MakerWorld has outlined in detail.
It’s not specified exactly which platforms MakerWorld will monitor for you. When asked, the company wouldn’t be drawn on this, though given the named and pictured examples in the post show Etsy and CraftsMM, we can infer that it’s broader than simply other 3D model repositories. The post elaborates that the MakerWorld is expanding its efforts to work with more partners globally and monitor “additional models and platforms”.
Taking a step back out of the weeds, though, it’s important to understand what the program is and is not. In its FAQ’s for the initiative, MakerWorld states that your first port of call should still be to report infringements you find where you find them. Engaging with the program improves your odds at a successful takedown, it suggests – likely through the externally applied pressure of agencies that are well versed in processing such claims.
Different Sticks
The Creator Copyright Program doesn’t fix the historical ill of misused user generated content – content will still get ripped off. But it does further incentivise platform loyalty with the benefit of “the house” standing behind you when you need to get things taken down. As an organization, MakerWorld has more eyes and ears in place to spot infringing content, flag them for you, and then serve takedowns, even if opting in comes at the “cost” of your models being under necessarily restrictive licenses.
But running such a scheme as a perk for a subset of its userbase costs something, a fact MakerWorld addresses in the FAQ. Fortunately for creators, the company covers the costs for now. That being said, it has already flagged that it reserves the right to change fees and charge to cover services that fall out of scope in the future.
And when claims get complicated and lawyers may be necessary, “consulting a qualified attorney is recommended.” It doesn’t seem that MakerWorld will go to court for you if it comes to that, but it will help you swat pesky infringements that can be simply handled via DCMA and similar notices.
It’s a contrasting approach to others moves we’ve seen recently. Late last year, Prusa Research introduced its OCL license, a measure toward improving creators’ abilities to protect their work by changing the nature of accessing the file itself. That effort was less about strengthening its walled garden, and more about backing abusers into trickier legal corners when they misuse the files.
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License: The text of "New MakerWorld Copyright Protection Scheme Helps You Fight IP Abuse" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.