Distributed Ledger Technology for Intellectual Property

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A study conducted by Swiss Economics SE AG for the Swiss Federal Institute
of Intellectual Property.

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Introduction

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) in general and blockchain technology have experienced a surge in interest and applications over the past years. Most people associate the technology with Bitcoin, the most widely known cryptocurrency. However, the potential benefits from blockchain solutions go far beyond cryptocurrencies as they can increase efficiency, transparency, and security in many industries.

Among these, the intellectual property (IP) intensive industry can potentially benefit strongly from blockchain technology. This industry creates IP assets which can be defined as intangible assets that are owned by individuals, organizations, or companies. Such intangible assets include different asset classes which are protected under different rights. Commonly known classes are:

inventions that can be protected through registered patents,
creative work like music, films, books, art works and under certain conditions also databases, which are protected by copyrights,
symbols, logos, brand names, etc. that can be registered as trademarks, and
shapes and forms i.e. the exterior of an object that can be registered as designs. Click here for more information on IP and IP rights.

Figure 1: Use cases of blockchain for IP along IP value chain phases

In the generation, protection, management and commercialization of IP, many actors are involved in collaborative and competitive ways. Players in this IP ecosystem have broad backgrounds (artistic, technical, legal, economic, etc.) and take different roles. While some generate an IP asset (e.g., R&D departments), others determine a way to protect it (e.g., patent attorneys) and others work in the management and commercialization of this IP asset (e.g., portfolio managers licensing patent rights). Note, that this presents only one example of an IP value chain.

Several processes in IP value chains can potentially benefit from blockchain technology by making processes at different stages more secure, efficient, and transparent. More specifically, to give an example, blockchain technology can tackle challenges of actors in IP by facilitating the proof of ownership and by offering anti-counterfeiting solutions. These potential applications of blockchain technology for IP – of which some are already existing – are the topic of this study. We further refer to these applications of blockchain for IP as use cases.

Figure 1 above shows the use cases of blockchain for IP along the phases of the IP value chain which the World Intellectual Property Organization described in their whitepaper on blockchain for IP (see here).

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