Law’s track record of tackling futuristic foils isn’t the strongest, but novel issues are testing its hand. Notable among these is the 3-D printer, a device that in addition to building handbags and houses portends the possibility of 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.