Because I’m under the impression – rightly or wrongly – that my blog readers are probably all tech-savvy parents (or family members), I figured that it might be useful to share this guide to pram repair via 3D Printing.

The guide itself is for fancy Bugaboo prams, but I suspect that the more adventurous among you could modify the technique to apply to prams under £1,000.

Image is called Have A Drink, and you can buy it on Etsy.
Webcomic is XKCD, by Randall Munroe.

So we have been bookmarking a lot of articles about piracy lately, presumably with an eye towards writing something on the subject. However, we do not currently have an original narrative running through our heads in regards to the subject.

When this sort of thing happens, the results ain’t pretty. The links get buried behind newer links, only to be discovered when no longer topical. They are then decommissioned, and forgotten.

This being Friday, we decided to try something new — we will just dump the whole thing out in the coffee and see what falls out.

So … we have A photographer suing Rhianna, claiming that his photo shoot with the singer provided the inspiration for her latest music video.

India fighting against the copyrighting of Yoga poses by releasing traditional poses as public domain material.

Movie studios managed record box offices in 2010. Again. Still the studios are claiming that movie piracy is destroying their business, meaning that we will continue to be exposed to those ridiculous advertisements before movies and on legitimately purchased DVDs.

Also, 3D Printing has had its first copyright fight.

Perhaps you can sense why we have a lack of narrative forming.

The first two seem (to us) to be fallout of the third. The movie industry — and its friend, the music industry — has such clout that it has managed to warp copyright law into a giant hammer. This hammer is so big that its mere existence creates abuse (the second example), and the continual attempt to end “fair use” provisions creates an environment where artists feel like they are owed for having inspired others.

Let’s be honest — being inspired by somebody’s artistic vision, making a music video on that basis, and not hiring that person in some sort of role for the video is a pretty dick move. But it’s not a copyright violation – or, at least, it should not be. There is a difference between being inspired by and copying something; a video is simply not a copy of a photograph.

And the 3D printing? Well, that’s the future of copyright battles. Before the movies, we are told “you wouldn’t download a car”.

But why not?

Image from seemingly everywhere on the Internet. Original creator unknown.
Webcomic is Red Meat by Max Cannon.