In Pictures: MakerBot Replicator in actionGamers are sure to recognise the above sculpture: it's a Weighted Companion Cube from Valve's Portal franchise printed out of PLA plastic. The code for this geek-friendly masterpiece can be downloaded from the Thingiverse community website, along with countless other creations inspired by games, movies and TV shows. The fact that you can print anything with the Replicator presents some thorny legal/copyright issues that have yet to be thoroughly addressed. The 'open source' defense can only get MakerBot Industries so far -- especially when they're actively promoting their product with other company's intellectual properties. The MakerBot rep we spoke to admitted this was a slippery issue. "Basically, we try not to promote stuff that might get us sued by their owner," he said. "...But Valve loves geeky fan-made stuff." (In other words, don't expect Star Wars toys to crop up in MakerBot's marketing any time soon.)
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