Novel technology almost always tests the law’s ability to adapt. The 3-D printer is no different on this front: The device that can be used to building handbags and houses also portends the possibility of printing untraceable guns, knives and other tools threatening in the wrong hands.

Stanford Law professor Mark Lemley takes this notion a few steps further. In an upcoming paper co-authored by Bournemouth University’s Dinusha Mendis and Queensland University of Technology’s Matthew Rimmer, Lemley and company explore “the legal, ethical, and public policy issues in respect of intellectual property, innovation, regulation,” the abstract says.