Column: New technology, new legal concerns

Imagine that an electrician is under contract to wire a home for a construction company. The electrician runs out of a part necessary to finish the job and learns that a three-dimensional printer could follow an online blueprint and print the pieces needed to complete the work. The electrician uses a 3-D printer to create the pieces and the house is sold. After a family moves in, a fire breaks out at the house, destroying the new home. The fire marshal determines that the cause of the fire was faulty wiring due to a melted connector, the same piece printed using new 3-D printing technology.