International on-line market Etsy lately made adjustments to its Creativity Requirements which, on the face of it, have far-reaching implications for sellers of 3D printed merchandise. The brand new guidelines have precipitated shockwaves by the Etsy neighborhood – though some are welcoming what they understand as a return to Etsy’s “handmade” ethos.
Launched on 10 June 2025, with no discover or fanfare, the adjustments affecting 3D printed gadgets take away simply seven phrases from the definition of things “Made by a Vendor”, first launched in 2024. The phrases in query are highlighted beneath:
Objects produced utilizing computerized instruments: Bodily gadgets {that a} vendor produced of their private store or house, utilizing computerized instruments equivalent to a laser printer, 3D printer, CNC or Cricut machine. This stuff could also be produced primarily based on a vendor’s unique design, or utilizing a templated design or sample, and are sometimes personalised or personalized to a purchaser’s specification.
What does the elimination of “or utilizing a templated design or sample” imply in apply?
Primarily, it signifies that Etsy sellers are forbidden from promoting 3D printed gadgets primarily based on designs (i.e. digital recordsdata) created by a 3rd get together – even the place the vendor has bought a business licence and due to this fact has the designer’s permission to print and promote a product primarily based on their design. Sellers can in fact nonetheless promote 3D prints that are primarily based on their very own designs, so there is no such thing as a ban on 3D printed merchandise per se.
For instance, an Etsy vendor, who has bought designs within the type of digital recordsdata from a web site equivalent to Cults3D, MyMiniFactory or Cinderwing3D by way of a business subscription, can now not promote 3D printed merchandise primarily based on these designs from their Etsy retailer.
Nevertheless, it does appear potential that the place a vendor modifies the unique third get together design in such a approach as to make it their very own, by additions or customisations which arguably create a brand new design, this could possibly be acceptable on the market beneath the brand new guidelines. Etsy has but to substantiate this, nevertheless.
It isn’t clear for the second what has prompted Etsy’s rule change, though many suspect that it’s an effort to clamp down on gadgets perceived as not complying with the platform’s “handmade and classic” vibe.
From the angle of an mental property (IP) advisor, one potential issue influencing Etsy’s choice is the long-anticipated revision to Europe’s design guidelines, which – maybe coincidentally – got here into impact on 1 Could 2025. The brand new design guidelines explicitly point out 3D printing, and permit house owners of an EU design registration to pursue third events for infringement on this space.
An EU design registration protects “the looks of an entire product or a part of it, ensuing from the options, specifically the strains, contours, colors, form, texture and/or supplies of the product itself and/or of its ornament”. A registration will be obtained by making use of to the European Mental Property Workplace (EUIPO) and will be enforced in nationwide courts of EU member states.
Launched in 2003, the EU design system offers house owners of a registration the unique proper to make, use, promote, import and export any product embodying the design, if it’s a form, or bearing the design whether it is ornamentation, inside the European Union. The lately applied adjustments to this technique now additionally enable registration house owners to stop third events from “creating, downloading, copying, sharing or distributing to others any medium or software program which data the design” for the aim of copy, with out their permission. The definition of the time period “product” has additionally been prolonged to incorporate non-physical objects, together with these materialised in digital kind.
As defined in a latest article by my colleague Michael Shaw, this transformation signifies that “An EU design can due to this fact now be used as an categorical technique of enforcement in relation to 3D printing actions, equivalent to 3D print file sharing websites. This strengthens the rights of EU design house owners and aligns with the rising use of additive manufacturing methods throughout a variety of sectors, offering design house owners with a way of difficult the unauthorised creation and distribution of digital CAD recordsdata and 3D print recordsdata.”
The replace to the EU design guidelines is a part of a push to make sure that European IP laws retains tempo with fast-growing applied sciences, together with AI and 3D printing, a subject which will probably be explored additional in Marks & Clerk’s upcoming White Paper.
Seen from the above perspective, Etsy’s revised Creativity Requirements appear supposed to guard creativity, to not stifle it. Certainly, when the Creativity Requirements have been first launched in July 2024 they specified that solely merchandise made by, designed, sourced or handpicked by a vendor could possibly be offered, and required all merchandise to be categorized “primarily based on the vendor’s involvement of their creation course of”. Because of this, Etsy eliminated 22% extra listings and suspended 1.5x extra sellers that violated its insurance policies in 2024, and improved total enforcement precision by 70%, in contrast with the earlier 12 months.
Clearly, promoting a 3D printed product primarily based on a 3rd get together’s design with out permission is, and really all the time has been, mental property infringement, and the brand new EU guidelines will enable designers to implement their rights with higher certainty. This could possibly be a significant problem for Etsy as a platform, since checking each 3D printed merchandise to find out whether or not it’s licenced, or an infringement, could possibly be a significant headache, though it’s unclear whether or not Etsy itself could be responsible for any infringements. And whereas Etsy is predicated within the US and has a big home market, it additionally has over 860,000 sellers within the EU, and 28% of Etsy sellers export merchandise internationally.
Etsy has struggled with mental property infringement points prior to now, and in 2023 was accused of being “a significant counterfeiting platform”. It will maybe not be shocking if the latest adjustments to EU design guidelines have performed a minimum of some half within the Creativity Requirements replace.
Then again, given Etsy’s goal of offering distinctive, handmade and personalised wares, the prohibition on promoting 3D printed gadgets designed by a 3rd get together, even with permission, could merely be a option to encourage sellers to concentrate on creating their very own, particular person designs moderately than replicating 3D print designs on the market elsewhere.
Because the mud settles, it’s clear that Etsy’s up to date Creativity Requirements mark a major shift for sellers. Whereas the brand new guidelines could really feel restrictive, additionally they current a possibility for sellers to showcase their originality and design expertise. Etsy could but make clear the gray areas -particularly round modified third-party designs – however within the meantime, sellers could be clever to concentrate on creating and selling their very own distinctive creations. Fairly than ditching their 3D printers, creators ought to see this as a name to innovate and differentiate, in a market that more and more values authenticity.
Marks & Clerk LLP is a member of AMUK, and offers recommendation on all features of mental property, together with patents, commerce marks, designs and copyright.
