Even if this did manage to get widely deployed, it would only harm legitimate users. Like every other non-interactive content DRM system ever created, it will be easy to subvert any restrictions. HDCP did nothing to prevent movie piracy, the various music DRMs did nothing to prevent music piracy and this will do nothing to prevent "thing" piracy.

Myhrvold is smart enough to realize this won't work in practice but he'll still probably profit from it. Corps will inevitably call for this sort of DRM to be forced on commercially sold 3D printers and when they do Myhrvold will be laughing all the way to the bank unless some substantial patent reform has taken place in the meantime, which it probably won't.

Be careful - ACP[1] for VHS recorders was patented, and manufacturers were forced to implement it (and pay the royalties.)

[1]:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrovision#Content_protection_...]

Kills it... until the first law gets passes which encourages printers to incorporate this DRM.

The 3D printer world is still at the hobbyist stage now. When Best Buy is carrying them for $99, the ones carried by Best Buy will have DRM incorporated.

Nobody in the Maker crowd is going to endorse this plan, but eventually somebody's going to try to apply the "cheap razor / expensive blades" model to 3D printing once a compelling use case for consumer 3D printing is found.

Printer companies like HP and Canon use extensive DRM in their ink cartridges. They wouldn't hesitate to add it to their input validation, either.

The Maker crowd won't be the ones making mass-market versions of these devices though.