Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

European patent definition

What does European patent mean? In legal practice, a European patent is the result of a single application to the European Patent Office (EPO) that, once granted, can be validated to take effect as a bundle of national patents in the EPC states designated in the application. The term is used in, and defined by, the European Patent Convention (EPC). Key features include centralised filing, search, examination and grant; post‑grant EPO opposition within nine months; EPO limitation/revocation procedures; and national validation requirements (including any translations and fees), followed by national enforcement (infringement) and revocation under each state’s law, with national renewal fees. In the UK, an...

3D printing and IP in the UK: patents, designs (EU reforms), copyright, trade marks, data files, spare parts and repair, enforcement and intermediary liability

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note sets out the intellectual property considerations that affect 3D printing. It addresses the enforcement of patents, design rights, copyright and trade marks, and examines a range of industry uses for 3D printing together with the specific IP implications arising from them.

What is 3D printing?

Historically, products were created by casting into a mould, removing material from a block of steel, wood or similar, or by combining these processes. In contrast, 3D printing—also called additive manufacturing (AM)—takes a different route to production, forming items layer by layer under computer control from a digital design.

That digital design, typically originating from a 3D CAD representation of the object and described in this Practice Note as the ‘data file’, contains the full set of instructions the printer needs to fabricate the item. It defines the object’s dimensions, geometry and any surface decoration. The data file can be built from first principles or created by reverse-engineering an existing physical piece using a 3D scanner or camera, or by using both techniques in tandem...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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