Yes, that’s absolutely true. The entire concept of Intellectual Property is a relatively recent one, which was made tenable by technology in the first place, and it is now in the process of being made untenable by technology.
You cannot “copyright” something until technology makes it possible to easily copy a thing, and those copyrights are only enforceable while the means to copy the thing are limited and controllable. So, a realistic assessment means that IP is a transitive phenomenon that will gradually have to be abandoned as our technology advances. Of course, since there is money involved, we will struggle to preserve the concept long after it is outdated, no matter how foolish that is.
I believe you can blame it on Benjamin Franklin, his concept of a temporary legal monopoly on a new ides is the very engine that drove America wealth.
Now even FReepers want artists, engineers and programers to work for free for the collective.
*sigh*
One can copyright any fixed expression whether or not the thing is easily copied, and a copyright is enforceable in a court of law. Standards by IP developers will emerge to protect their labor, and the 3D copiers will either conform or their manufacturers will either be liable or excluded technologically from whatever patent pools make their devices commercially viable. The industry will self police in the end.