Road To Smart IP Rights Through Blockchain

Intellectual property (IP) right is one of the main section of business laws. Earlier mostly businesses were used to operate remotely, and IP was not much of an issue. But with the advent of internet enterprises started to scale internationally leading to IP conflicts. Current IP regulators and authenticators are pre-digital age which acts as a third-party for settlement and validation. Although, there exist consistency still chances of biased individual decision prevails. Most countries have their IP management system, but the issue proliferates when things scale internationally. Such scenarios arise the need for a solution that eliminates third-party authenticators and is decentralized to terminate rule over data, consider which blockchain is the perfect solution. It withholds immutability, authentication, decentralization, and cryptography to address the current issues of IP.

Smart IP Registrations

Blockchain ledgers can be utilized for management of IP rights. IP offices worldwide can record rights in the distributed digital ledger creating a centralized solution with immutability and accountability of events registered in the lifecycle of an IP right. From the event of first registration to current ownership blockchain will keep track of the complete journey of trademark simplifying mandatory due diligence exercises.

Dispute Settlement

IP disputes are a significant roadblock in the journey of a brand. Utilizing an immutable ledger offering records of first registration and claims of any trademark can be of great use. It will act as a proof for cases of jurisdictions of first use or genuine use and for the ones where the extent of use is crucial. Dispute settlement or jurisdiction process will become more transparent, agile, and efficient with the advent of blockchain in IP.

Smart Contracts in Management and Payment

IP authorities worldwide face the issue of effective management of IP rights and their payments. Smart contracts, a concept of blockchain technology, in which terms of agreement are coded into programs which get executed once a specific condition is met. These contracts can be utilized to automate the licensing and payments of IP rights.

The decentralized ledger will allow all worldwide entities to view registered, applied, and disputed trademarks, helping them to cross-check new applications and get them modified if required. As a result, IP disputes would decline automatically, and international IP rights laws also might make their way into the jurisdiction.

Check Out : Top BlockchainStartups