PROJECT DESCRIPTION
3D Printing and AI: Arbitration and Mediation
Dr Kyriaki Noussia (Principal Investigator) and Dr James Griffin
Sponsor: ESRC IAA Project Co-Creation Fund Award
Project length: 1 October 2020-31 September 2021
About the Project
3D printing is increasingly important as it is a means to redistribute the manufacturing and use of products, and their application in many sectors of the society. World trade may transform from one around distributing products, to one around distributing digitalized product designs, and manufacturing and distribution will become de-globalized, and will be placed nearer consumers. Intellectual property rights are difficult to enforce against end-consumers in the emerging world of personal 3D printing.
Inevitably, disputes may arise which require resolution. In particular, alternative dispute resolution offers a means by which to quickly and cheaply resolve disputes.
The Project proposes an online system to facilitate the collection of evidence of legal disputes, and enable the quick resolution of disputes. Such evidence facilitation will be done via the attachment of a digital watermark. Such a watermark is composed of data within a digital file (e.g., a 3DP print save file, called .stl), data on the surface of a 3D printed object, and data within the structure of the 3D print. This combination can be used to track and trace content and be used in the evidence of legal disputes.
Predicted Outcomes
The project will lead to:
- the creation of a digital mediation / arbitration online platform which will offer and constitute a standardised and computerised system to serve as a tool and method of ADR and the creation of a prototype for the creation of a tool as a marketable product of a digital ADR system as an ADR tool (wide use).
- the publication of two papers in peer-reviewed journals on the area of IP, arbitration and technology law discussing the increasing convergence between technology and law, ADR methods in IP disputes and claims for 3D, 4D, augmented and virtual reality products.
- a workshop with IBM and Lux Mediation, to present the results of the research and disseminate them to the wider public and Arbitration Commissions, and a report thereafter to be distributed to the major Arbitration Commissions.
Photo: