surely from the makers point of view all it does is encourage you to make your own designs, rather than directly rip off someone else ?

And, yes, unfortunately we are still under the aegis of europaen regulations.

Once that's gone - no reason it can't be repealed if necessary.

But given how few 3d printers are actually capable of making full sized furniture - it's not really an issue.

Far more likely it's aimed at cheap foreign imports - I could say china, but these days: india & vietnam are just as likely to be the culprits as well.