Protect Your Patent with Blockchain?

Filing and protecting a patent can be a difficult task. In addition to traversing the USPTO prosecution process, inventors may also have to deal with competitors and non-practicing entities (NPEs) threatening their intellectual property and in some cases forcing them into litigation. Patent litigation insurance is one solution that could help inventors mitigate costs. IPwe has filed a patent for a distributed blockchain insurance network. The application teaches a system wherein each participant’s patent or application is added as a node to the network and validated by other members, thus creating a secure and distributed database. The system also allows users to pay or crowdfund their premiums in cryptocurrency or fiat currency. 

Blockchain technology has been utilized in health insurance, life insurance, and auto insurance systems; however, patent insurance is a newer field that poses interesting challenges in terms of qualitative risk assessment and variation in patent documents and legal outcomes. A combination of expert analysis and machine learning algorithms — such as those used to form Magic Number® Patent Radian® diagrams — can provide valuable insight into the patent landscape and the way sectors can be broken down into relevant subcategories so that inventors can know what to expect in prosecution and litigation. For example, our Cryptocurrency: Industrial Applications sector (below) shows various uses for cryptocurrency and blockchain including the protection of property.