Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what intellectual property protections and enforcement measures counterfeiting authorities may use for counterfeiting and piracy of designs made by 3D printing.

Intellectual property protections apply to designs replicated by 3D printing in the same way as they apply to articles created by more traditional manufacturing processes. The protection and enforcement measures available will vary according to what rights exist in the design, and the circumstances of each case, but these could include both civil and criminal sanctions. Relevant protections could include copyright, registered and unregistered design rights, patents or trade marks.