License choice in open 3D printing content community: Are current license options sufficient?

3D printing content, which has been increasingly shared through the open communities over the last decade, has both aesthetic and functional features. There has been growing concern over whether current licensing policies provide sufficient options for contributors to the open communities. To suggest a direction for alternative license options, it is necessary to understand contributors’ license preferences for sharing diverse 3D printing content. Using a logit model based on information collected from Thingiverse, this study investigates the relationship between the various features of 3D printing content and contributors’ choices among the Creative Commons licenses currently available. The result indicates that preferences are clearly distinguished by the features of the content, whether the content is functional or non-functional in nature. However, there is no significant difference, in terms of license choice, for the numerous 3D printing content items that contain both functional and non-functional features. This result implies that there is a deficiency in the current licenses that cover 3D printing content. Implications for future license policies are discussed.