3D Printing and Intellectual Property – Interview with Paul Banwatt – Reintroduction of the Innovation Act – IP Fridays Episode 24

3D-printing has many implications in view of intellectual property – Paul Banwatt talks with Ken Suzan about this topic. Also we cover the reintroduction of the Innovation Act by Bob Goodlatte, pushing patent reform in the US. Lastly, we invite you to our IP Fridays Meetup in San Diego. We are also proud to be co-hosts of the Meet the Bloggers event in San Diego as well!
 
IP FRIDAYS
 
Co-Presenters:
Rolf Claessen and Kenneth Suzan
 
Episode 24 – March 20, 2015
 
RC =   Rolf Claessen
KS =    Kenneth Suzan
PB = Paul Banwatt
 
Hi.  This is Gene Quinn.  I am a patent attorney and the founder of ipwatchdog.com and you are listening to IP Fridays.
 
KS:      Hello and welcome to this episode of IP Fridays.  Our names are Ken Suzan and Rolf Claessen and this is THE podcast dedicated to Intellectual Property.  It does not matter where you are from, in-house or private practice, novice or expert, we will help you stay up-to-date with current topics in the fields of trademarks, patents, design and copyright, discover useful tools and much more.
 
RC:      Welcome to the 24th episode of IP Fridays.  As you know, we are hosting an IP Fridays Meetup in San Diego on the 5th of May and we can proudly say that 20 free tickets to our Meetup went away really quickly and are sold out now.  So we decided to introduce a new ticket for $25.00 which is basically covering our additional costs with the Hyatt Hotel in San Diego.  So if you want to attend our IP Fridays Meetup in San Diego on the 5th of May you can still do so by signing up at and you will just be required to cover our additional costs that are involved with your participation.  In addition, we are very proud to be co-hosts of the “Meet the Bloggers” Event on the 4th of May, in the evening, and there will be news coming up very soon.
 
Today I will tell you about the reintroduction of the Innovation Act in the U.S. to fight the patent troll problem so since majorities have changed in Congress and the Senate it is expected that this Innovation Act will be passed quite quickly but before we jump into that story, we have our special guest today.  Ken had the chance to interview Paul Banwatt.  He is COO and General Counsel of Matter and Form Inc. which is a company focused on 3D scanning and 3D printing and Paul will talk about the legal issues around 3D printing.
 
KEN SUZAN’S INTERVIEW WITH PAUL BANWATT:
 
KS:      Rolf, today we are talking about the growing trend of 3D printing with Paul Banwatt, the COO and general counsel to Matter and Form Inc., the manufacturer of a high tolerance 3D scanner.

Paul Banwatt was previously an associate at Gilbert’s LLP in Toronto, Canada. Paul’s practice was dedicated to innovative and creative industries and included software and technology, copyright, trademark and patent litigation, government relations and advocacy, global health law, and social finance.  Paul’s practice also included entertainment law.
Paul is also a musician.  As a musician, Paul’s bands (The Rural Alberta Advantage, Woodhands) received two 2012 Juno nominations, charted on the Billboard U.S. Top 200, played at the 2011 Coachella Music Festival, and have been featured in numerous publications including Spin, NME, Playboy Magazine, The New York Times and The Globe and Mail.
Paul has a J.D. and a B.A. in Political Science and Economics, both from the University of Toronto.
Paul is also co-founder and author of the 3D Printing law blog “Law in the Making” – .
 
Welcome Paul to IP Fridays.
 
PB:      Thanks very much for having me.
 
KS:      Paul,