Blockchain Technology Helps Protect Intellectual Property

Blockchain Technology Helps Protect Intellectual Property

Blockchain technology has revolutionized the way we store and transfer data, but it’s not always clear how to use this groundbreaking innovation to protect your intellectual property. This technology offers businesses, inventors, and creative artists a reliable way to protect their intellectual property. The blockchain is a decentralized record of all transactions that have taken place with regard to a digital item.  It is so difficult to falsify or tamper with the blockchain records of a digital item that hardly any entity that exists, be it a superpower country or mega-corporation, has the computer power to do it. If one imagines the intellectual property as a dog with wanderlust, then blockchain provides it with a GPS tracking collar. Therefore, blockchain protection of intellectual property is a necessary complement to the registering of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Since 2017, The Brand Protected has been educating clients and increasingly relying on blockchain technology to help establish claims of ownership and prevent intellectual property disputes.

Blockchain is International and Eliminates Bureaucratic Delays

Registration of IP (trademarks, copyright and patents), take time because the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or other governing body, must verify the originality of the intellectual property the prospective trademark holder is trying to register. After the process is finished, the IP is only valid in the territory in which they have been filed and registered. Businesses that want to use IP in a foreign territory must repeat the process in the next country; the whole process can take years. Meanwhile, it is risky for an inventor or innovator to begin using it commercially before the trademark becomes official. Block chain registration certain does not replace government registries (at least not yet). However, it provides some alternative to the often-confusing and expensive traditional types of intellectual property protection. Most certainly, it will verify authenticity in the case of legal proceedings.

Blockchain Data Provides Rock Solid Evidence in Intellectual Property Disputes

As every cryptocurrency enthusiast knows, the reason that blockchain technology is so secure is that everyone has enough control over it to access it but no one has enough control to falsify it convincingly. It is almost impossible that anyone has editing access to every block on the chain.  If anyone contests your ownership of a piece of intellectual property, blockchain records do not lie, and they can provide strong evidence in court.

Self-Enforcing Contracts Through Blockchain

Smart contracts are one of the most popular uses of blockchain technology outside of the cryptocurrency sector. By storing your IP on the blockchain instead of in an offline database, you gain access to powerful new tools like smart contracts which allow for automatic payments whenever certain conditions are met (e.g., when a song gets played on Spotify). If a copyright holder authorizes a distributor to distribute their content on the condition that they pay royalties, blockchain will allow the distributor to access the content when they are up to date on their contractually obligated payments, but not before. By doing this, blockchain contracts can stop intellectual property disputes before they start by not allowing unpaid financial obligations to pile up. You also get increased security because all transactions are encrypted and recorded publicly across thousands of computers around the world – this means no one can alter or delete your information without being detected!

Cost and benefit of Blockchain

Blockchain technology is a great way to protect your IP. It can keep it safe from tampering and theft, while also allowing you to establish ownership and track its use. The technology has a low cost to entry and maintenance, open transparency, resilience to fraud and diminished administrative duty.

Blockchain and the digital environment are changing how IP owners can better control, exploit their works, improve collaboration, and achieve fair remuneration for them. Although a relatively new technology, it can be used to manage and monetize IP rights. Some people say it’s still in its infancy, but the number of blockchain-based applications for managing these rights seems promising enough. This could have a massive impact on what it means to be an IP owner in this new world of blockchain-powered transparency by making the process more efficient while cutting out financial intermediaries that sometimes take part of our profits unfairly.

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