The only thing we can say about the technology is that it will change and improve. If it is possible to laser scan a physical model and convert it to data to be printed, I don't see why a software equivalent might not be able to 'scan' a 3D model and do the same. The problems of converting geometry files might fo away. Regarding the question of rights,

I not sure I really see a lot of logical difference between making 2D prints or films, or any other accepted commercial use and 3D printing - someone is still making money off someone else's IP. I suppose one could argue that with the 3D print, the value is in the representation of the model itself if you just printed a stock T Pose figure. Once you get into creatively posing and clothing the figure though it acquires its primary value from the creative efforts of the artist - the same as a 2D image. Why should one be permitted and the other prohibited. Note I'm not arguing the original modeler's right to impose such restrictions, I'm just saying the difference puzzles me - unless it boils down to some abstract perception that it is somehow entirely different or - more likely, the thought that the 3D print is probably going to be more financially lucrative. People see a render and they think a few posters maybe or a book cover. They think 3D print and they start seeing Barbie and her millions.

Maybe within a decade, 3D printers will be as common as the traditional kind. If Poser or something similar is still around, people are naturally going to want to print their artwork. I doubt that most of them are going to make any more money than most people do now; maybe the occasional few bucks at the flea market. I hope that the model creators and the artists can reach a reasonable balance here. Of course, thinking of Kinect and the beginnings of consumer mocap, maybe in 10 years, 3D scanning and automatic rigging will have reached a point where purchasing 3D figures will be obsolete anyway.  

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken