Segregated Witness and the Possibility of Patent Infringement

During the late evening of June 1, Bitcoin.com received an email  from an anonymous source who has been researching possible patent  infringements associated with the Segregated Witness (Segwit) protocol.  According to the researcher, Segwit may be at risk violating two  specific patents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office  (USPTO). 

Segregated Witness and Prior Patents 

The patent researcher who contacted our team has been investigating  Segwit’s possible relationship with similar patents filed across the  globe. It seems during the investigation; two USPTO patents were found  that Segwit protocol may infringe upon. The first patent discovered was US 8261082   a “Self-signing electronic documents” which was published in 2012.  According to our source, Claim 11 of US 8261082 appears to be relevant  to Segwit. Claim 11 of the document reads; 

 “A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving a signed first  electronic document, the first electronic document including digital  signature rights information, a digital signature module and a digital  signature generated by the digital signature module, the digital  signature module, which when loaded performs digital signature  operations; accessing, by one or more computers, the first electronic  document in a user application; validating the digital signature in the  first electronic document using the digital signature module in the user  application; accessing a second electronic document, the second  electronic document being a document other than the first electronic  document, the second electronic document being identified by the digital  signature rights information in the first electronic document; and  performing digital signature operations on the second electronic  document.” 

Another Self-Signing Electronic Document Patent Created by the Same Inventor

Additionally, there is another patent, US 7370206,  created by the same inventor Oliver Goldman published back in 2008. The  patent is also filed under the name “Self-signing electronic  documents.” Emails sent to us from the patent investigator details that  it appears Segwit may infringe upon Claim 1 of Goldman’s intellectual  property. 

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