La digitalizzazione del prodotto difettoso: stampa 3D e responsabilità civile

The first 3D printer appeared more than 30 years ago. Its operating principle is very easy: independently of the model in use, a 3D printer can create objects from nothing, through the overlapping of several layers of different materials, according to the instructions given by a digital project called CAD file. This paper is divided into 8 chapters: Chapter one aims to introduce the reader to the understanding of the technology that will be investigated. Chapter two is thought as the "justification" of the whole work: the purpose is to answer to the questions: "Why should we study this topic?". The economic potential of the AM technology is so wide that scholars speak about a "third industrial revolution". Chapter three exposes for the first time the most important legal issues, between "new" and "almost new" problems. Particularly, regarding the IP law, I decided to come up with a short analysis, useful to understand the essence of the phenomenon. It would not be possible to neglect copyright, patents, trade mark laws, in particular due to one of the most important issues raised by this paper: the overlapping of the worlds of bits ad atoms. Chapter four is thought as the conclusion of the first part of the paper: in it an analysis of the opportunities and the typologies of the regulations is realised. Chapter five opens the second part of the paper. I decided to realise it both in a theoretical and a practical way. The main goal is to understand how law can adapt to all this technological changes. The phenomena, the interests at stake and the social values, need to give answers that are not legislative of necessity. Eventually, I try to make a personal reflection regarding the concept of "justice" between equity and legal certainty. Chapter six presents the historic development and the deep reasons of the strict liability in case of defect product. In the first part I show how the judges have been able to extend the meaning of several articles of the Italian civil code, regarding the trade and the civil liability, in order to give answer to the social requests. On the contrary, in the second part there is a legislative analysis, in particular of the "Codice del Consumo", instrumentally used in the further chapter. Chapter seven represents the crucial point of the paper: in it I try to adapt the Italian law to the new technology. I try to understand which rules are still valid and for what reason, through a concrete and problematic methodology. In the last part of the paper, which is chapter eight, I make some de iure condendo proposals.