Global online marketplace Etsy recently made changes to its Creativity Standards which, on the face of it, have far-reaching implications for sellers of 3D printed products. The new rules have caused shockwaves through the Etsy community – although some are welcoming what they perceive as a return to Etsy’s “handmade” ethos.
Introduced on 10 June 2025, with no notice or fanfare, the changes affecting 3D printed items remove just seven words from the definition of items “Made by a Seller”, first introduced in 2024. The words in question are highlighted below:
Items produced using computerized tools: Physical items that a seller produced in their personal shop or home, using computerized tools such as a laser printer, 3D printer, CNC or Cricut machine. These items may be produced based on a seller’s original design, or using a templated design or pattern, and are often personalized or customized to a buyer’s specification.
What does the removal of “or using a templated design or pattern” mean in practice?
Essentially, it means that Etsy sellers are forbidden from selling 3D printed items based on designs (i.e. digital files) created by a third party – even where the seller has purchased a commercial licence and therefore has the designer’s permission to print and sell a product based on their design. Sellers can of course still sell 3D prints which are based on their own designs, so there is no ban on 3D printed products per se.
For example, an Etsy seller, who has purchased designs in the form of digital files from a site such as Cults3D, MyMiniFactory or Cinderwing3D via a commercial subscription, can no longer sell 3D printed products based on those designs from their Etsy store.
However, it does seem possible that where a seller modifies the original third party design in such a way as to make it their own, through additions or customisations which arguably create a new design, this could be acceptable for sale under the new rules. Etsy has yet to confirm this, however.
It isn’t clear for the moment what has prompted Etsy’s rule change, although many suspect that it’s an effort to clamp down on items perceived as not complying with the platform’s “handmade and vintage” vibe.
From the perspective of an intellectual property (IP) advisor, one possible factor influencing Etsy’s decision is the long-anticipated revision to Europe’s design rules, which – perhaps coincidentally – came into effect on 1 May 2025. The new design rules explicitly mention 3D printing, and allow owners of an EU design registration to pursue third parties for infringement in this area.
An EU design registration protects “the appearance of a whole product or part of it, resulting from the features, in particular the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or of its decoration”. A registration can be obtained by applying to the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and can be enforced in national courts of EU member states.
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Launched in 2003, the EU design system gives owners of a registration the exclusive right to make, use, sell, import and export any product embodying the design, if it is a shape, or bearing the design if it is ornamentation, within the European Union. The recently implemented changes to this system now also allow registration owners to prevent third parties from “creating, downloading, copying, sharing or distributing to others any medium or software which records the design” for the purpose of reproduction, without their permission. The definition of the term "product" has also been extended to include non-physical objects, including those materialised in digital form.
As explained in a recent article by my colleague Michael Shaw, this change means that “An EU design can therefore now be used as an express means of enforcement in relation to 3D printing activities, such as 3D print file sharing sites. This strengthens the rights of EU design owners and aligns with the growing use of additive manufacturing techniques across a wide range of sectors, providing design owners with a means of challenging the unauthorised creation and distribution of digital CAD files and 3D print files.”
The update to the EU design rules is part of a push to ensure that European IP legislation keeps pace with fast-growing technologies, including AI and 3D printing, a topic which will be explored further in Marks & Clerk’s upcoming White Paper.
Viewed from the above perspective, Etsy’s revised Creativity Standards seem intended to protect creativity, not to stifle it. Indeed, when the Creativity Standards were first launched in July 2024 they specified that only products made by, designed, sourced or handpicked by a seller could be sold, and required all products to be categorized “based on the seller’s involvement in their creation process”. As a result, Etsy removed 22% more listings and suspended 1.5x more sellers that violated its policies in 2024, and improved overall enforcement precision by 70%, compared with the previous year.
Clearly, selling a 3D printed product based on a third party’s design without permission is, and actually always has been, intellectual property infringement, and the new EU rules will allow designers to enforce their rights with greater certainty. This could be a major issue for Etsy as a platform, since checking every 3D printed item to determine whether it is licenced, or an infringement, could be a major headache, although it is unclear whether Etsy itself would be liable for any infringements. And while Etsy is based in the US and has a large domestic market, it also has over 860,000 sellers in the EU, and 28% of Etsy sellers export products internationally.
Etsy has struggled with intellectual property infringement issues in the past, and in 2023 was accused of being “a major counterfeiting platform”. It would perhaps not be surprising if the recent changes to EU design rules have played at least some part in the Creativity Standards update.
On the other hand, given Etsy’s aim of providing unique, handmade and personalised wares, the prohibition on selling 3D printed items designed by a third party, even with permission, may simply be a way to encourage sellers to focus on creating their own, individual designs rather than replicating 3D print designs for sale elsewhere.
As the dust settles, it’s clear that Etsy’s updated Creativity Standards mark a significant shift for sellers. While the new rules may feel restrictive, they also present an opportunity for sellers to showcase their originality and design skills. Etsy may yet clarify the grey areas -particularly around modified third-party designs - but in the meantime, sellers would be wise to focus on developing and promoting their own unique creations. Rather than ditching their 3D printers, creators should see this as a call to innovate and differentiate, in a marketplace that increasingly values authenticity.
Marks & Clerk LLP is a member of AMUK, and provides advice on all aspects of intellectual property, including patents, trade marks, designs and copyright.
