3DBENCHY, as a popular test model, has existed for a decade and is now entirely open for copyright.
If you ask me what is the hottest model of the 3D printing industry, it may not be the Chinese dragon, but 3DBENCHY: the first model that almost all 3D printing lovers will print.
The main reason why 3dbenchy is now discussed by everyone is that heCopyright problems。
The model was published in 2015 with the Creative Commons license: interdted derivatives, which means that the design of the model is limited by modifications, guaranteeing its effectiveness as a calibration tool.
Despite the license restrictions, 3DBENCHY quickly became an emblematic model well known with its super popularity. At the same time, we have also seen various versions of 3dbenchy. Although this was the case, it was not until earlier this year that someone complained to the printables about the work derived from # 3DBENCHY, saying that he had raped the license agreement.
The printables then respected the law of the EU and were “forced” to remove these derived works. This decision launched a widespread discussion in the 3D printing community, and people began to accuse NTI because they started to vigorously execute copyright as soon as they have acquired creative tools, this which hinders the development of industry.
However, NTI arose to clarify that this case was not their decision. In a press release dated February 14, 2025, NTI explained:
“3DBENCHY is a model designed to test and compare 3D printers and is now in the public domain. And merged in NTI in 2018, NTI decided to publicly publish 3dbenchy to commemorate its 10th anniversary. »»
This announcement means that 3DBENCHY is always available for free for use, sharing and modification of the 3D printing community. In addition, NTI has also transferred the management rights of the 3DBENCHY.COM website and social networks related to Paulo KIEFE and Daniel Norée. The only condition is: 3dbenchy is open to the community for free forever.
Today, all derivative models will continue to be available, and we believe that more derived models will appear in the future.
