'Unbundling the Contract of Sale – Commercial Law and 3D-printing': 3CL/CPLC Webinar

This was a joint 3CL/Cambridge Private Law Centre event. Additive layer manufacturing, better known as 3D-printing, is a manufacturing technology which has been evolving steadily over the last few decades, and has now advanced to the point where it can make the leap from niche technology to mainstream application. Its potential is such that it could change where and the manner in which many types of goods are produced. An interesting aspect of 3D-printing is that it allows for the unbundling of the production process. In this paper, I intend to explore what this could mean for the laws on the humble contract for the sale of goods, and whether the potential of 3D-printing requires developments in the law. Christian Twigg-Flesner LL.B. PCHE Ph.D. (Sheffield) is Professor of International Commercial Law at the University of Warwick (since September 2017). Previously, he was Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Hull, having joined there as Lecturer in 2004, and he previously taught at the University of Sheffield and Nottingham Trent University. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of Commercial, Consumer and Contract Law, with a particular focus on the implications of digitalisation. His research covers English, European and International dimensions. He is a Fellow of the European Law Institute, an Associate Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and one of the Law editors for the Journal of Consumer Policy. He has been a Senior International Fellow at the University of Bayreuth (2016-18), and visiting professor at the universities of Münster, Bielefeld, Osnabrück, and City University Hong Kong. He has spoken at conferences throughout Europe, as well as in Hong Kong and Japan. He has published extensively, particularly on EU Consumer and Contract Law. His books include Foundations of International Commercial Law (Routledge, 2021), Rethinking EU Consumer Law, with Geraint Howells and Thomas Wilhelmsson (Routledge, 2017), The Europeanisation of Contract Law (2nd ed, Routledge, 2013) and A Cross-Border-Only Regulation for Consumer Transactions in the EU – A New Approach to EU Consumer Law (Springer, 2012). He has edited the Cambridge Companion to European Union Private Law (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and the Elgar Research Handbook on EU Consumer and Contract Law (Edward Elgar, 2016). He is also an editor of the 13th and 14th editions of Atiyah and Adams’ Sale of Goods (Pearson, 2016; 2020; with Rick Canavan). 3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners. For more information see: https://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/centre-activities