Companies Rushing to Patent the Blockchain Gets the Attention of "The Economist"
Bitcoin, the 2016 Currency of the Year, and companies are paying attention now! The heat is on as people try to game their way into owning the technology underlying bitcoin: the blockchain itself.
source1, source2
The Economist is going to feature a printed piece on the blockchain. They recognize that the blockchain is expected to be used in many areas of our lives in the upcoming future, from the safeguarding of diamonds to the way shares are traded. Intellectual property rights over the technology is in heavy dispute with legal fights.
Since Bitcoin was created by someone who chooses not to be known other than a pseudonym, and made his intentions clear with the core of the technology being part of the public domain, the blockchain itself isn't easily up for grabs as intellectual property. But if there are additions and variations, those could potentially be patented. For the time being, a new law, as well as an American court decision on granting patents, makes it difficult to claim ownership.
Among the various improvements being added to block chain technology, are security and encryption techniques. There are currently 36 patents that are available, which the American patent office must release 18 months after they are filed. There are currently hundreds more that will be publicly available in the coming future.
Some of the companies trying to get a hold on some parts of the Bitcoin technology are MasterCard with four payment-related patents; Goldman Sachs with one for a distributed ledger to process foreign-exchange transactions; as well as startups like Coinbase with their own patent claims. Craig Wright, the Australian claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto but has failed to prove it, has filed 73 patents in Britain.
Few patents have currently been issued, and the applicants (who are known) have said they will only use them defensively against lawsuits. But people who have a financial interest, like banks and credit card companies, might go after newcomers and easy targets trying to get into the blockchain development and act as "patent trolls" to shake them down.
Chain, Digital Asset Holdings and Hyperledger, and other startups are releasing open-source software and trying to make it impossible for anyone to enforce patents against those who use their original code. Blockstream is another who says they won't sue anyone for using their patents as long as that party doesn't use their own patents to sue anyone else.
The blockchain could become the central component for billion-dollar industries across the planet. The Economist looks favorably on it.
The blockchain is heating up for sure. DTCC released news on Jan. 9th that they are developing a distributed ledger solution for derivatives processing. This is going to get firms to collaborate and build the next generation "Trade Information Warehouse".
There is a lot of potential for the blockchain in 2017... and the hype just started :D
References:
- A rush to patent the blockchain is a sign of the technology’s promise
- DTCC Selects IBM, AXONI and R3 to Develop DTCC's Distributed Ledger Solution for Derivatives Processing
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@krnel
2017-01-12, 8pm
I love that The Economist is legitimizing Bitcoin for its subscribers - not that it needs legitimizing, but the authority of the mag is certainly welcome. Unfortunately, the part about patenting is a downer. If anyone knows any lawyer in these parts, please ask him/her to look at the decision to refuse a patent for the first commercial waterbed.
Fun Fact: The patent was denied because the judge decided that the idea was in the public domain - because Robert A. Heinlein described one in detail in his novel Stranger In A Strange Land! Troof. :)
Blockchain was given as an open source gift To society with bitcoin and it's not surprising whatsoever to imagine corporations trying to patent this technology for themselves. I have read numerous articles on various companies patenting "private" blockchains, which would give stockholders and other privileged individuals private access to the ledger, without having a true public blockchain as it was intended
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Wow, the DTCC is getting involved? VERY interesting. I'll have to take a closer look. Nice post. Cheers!
Pie is Served! Everybody come and "get a piece". ;)
Wow, such a legit support for the blockchain technology will make it sky-rocket in terms of popularity. Good for us! All for one and one for all!!! Thanks a bunch for sharing this with us and namaste :)
Whoa!
Really good post and looks good for blockchain technology.
Behind every good idea is someone trying to make a profit.
The blockchain should not get patented. Period. This is an open source technology (please correct me if I am wrong). Hopefully, things will stay as they are...
Yeah they can't get it, some are trying, but they can get their specialty addons patented...
It is a bit like the Elsevier company trying to get the full per reviewal system patented... at the end, they manage to have their web-based peer-review interface patented...