Is a Blockchain Patent Still Possible?
With so much blockchain technology publicly disclosed already, many are wondering, "How can we get a patent on a blockchain system now?" In a previous article, we explored whether Satoshi Nakamoto could have patented bitcoin and whether such a patent would have survived an eligibility challenge. But regardless of whether a viable bitcoin patent exists, both Nakamoto’s 2008 article describing the bitcoin system and the bitcoin network in operation since 2009 qualify as "prior art" against any new attempt to patent a blockchain system. There are a few legal and practical....
Related News
Goldman Sachs has submitted a patent application focusing on how blockchain could cut out the middle man with transaction costs, claiming that the technology could change the current process. The patent, “Systems and Methods for Updating a Distributed Ledger-Based on Partial Validations of Transactions”, which was published on September 8 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), was initially filed in March 2015, making it Goldman Sach’s first blockchain focused patent. Banks Turning to Blockchain. Since the introduction of bitcoin, banks have slowly been turning their attention to....
VeChain Global Technology has petitioned for a patent with the U.S. federal agency Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Filed on April 22nd, 2021, the application seeks to register methods, devices, blockchain nodes, and a system for carbon recording and trading, per the document published by the agency. The patent has been attributed to Jianliang Gu, […]
One of the UK's largest telecoms is seeking a patent for a security system aimed at preventing malicious attacks on blockchains. British Telecommunications (BT) PLC submitted a patent application last July for “Mitigating Blockchain Attacks” to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The application, released on 2nd February, details both a system and methods for monitoring transactions on a particular blockchain in a bid to “detect malicious attacks”, the application’s authors write. The filing is notable given its source, as BT is the largest Internet service provider in the UK,....
The world’s largest provider of cryptocurrency payment services, Bitpay has announced the company is joining the Square-founded crypto patent effort the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). Bitpay has been working with blockchain products since 2011 and the firm will share open-source projects and use a shared patent library with the crypto patent organization. Bitpay Joins Crypto Patent Effort COPA The Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payment and blockchain company Bitpay is joining forces with COPA. The Crypto Open Patent Alliance was originally invoked by Square, Inc., and the....
A Brooklyn blockchain startup has been awarded a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its work using the tech to facilitate peer-to-peer energy transfers. LO3 is one of several startups seeking to using a blockchain system to reimagine how energy transfer networks function, looking to distributed networks as a means to cut inefficiencies and costs. Founder Lawrence Orsini and TRC Energy Services project manager Julianna Yun Wei are listed as inventors. The application was originally submitted to the USPTO last November. The patent, published on 25th October, focuses on....