Block Chain

Blockchain is well known for its application to cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, many people believe that blockchain resents a generational technological transformation akin in its importance to the advent of the Internet in terms of how businesses perform transactions with one another. Basically, blockchain is a means for recording information that can be used to track transactions.

What’s Unique About Blockchain

The way blockchain records and tracks the transactions makes it particular good for protecting against falsifying transactions or inappropriately modifying past transactions. Blockchain transactions are performed and verified on a peer-to-peer network. Blockchain record are created to be both secure and trackable by requiring multiple parties to a transaction to verify what will be entered onto a ledger in advance without any single party having the ability to change ledger entries after they have been entered. The entry for each transaction, referred to as a “block”, is transmitted to all participants in a network. The transactions must be verified by each participant solving a complex mathematical puzzle. Once each participant verifies a block, it is added to the chain of blocks that form the ledger. Accordingly, the blockchain contains a growing list of blocks. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data.

Broad Applicability

Blockchain potentially has a relatively broad applicability, since distributed ledger technology creates a secure, time-stamped and chain of information that is difficult to alter. Some applications include brand protection, public record keeping, smart cities, smart homes, IoT (internet of things) and many more. Additional cases seem to come to our attention almost every day. One area in which blockchain is seeing fast growing use is in the realm of tracking goods in a supply chain.

Challenges and Opportunities

There are still several challenges to applying blockchain to large-scale use. This posses several opportunities for those enterprises that are actively working to address some of these challenges. We have been actively tracking the technology and monitoring the patent activity in the area. New technologies like blockchain are exciting opportunities for those that are excited by the challenges that arise with such new ideas. We look forward to assisting our clients in determining whether patent protection is the best way for them to ensure a place in the future of blockchain. By getting an early foot hold in this exciting new area, the potential could be substantial. Nonetheless, there is already a body of prior art that is building around blockchain and the drafting of applications for patent protection require skill and care to ensure that these important early inventions are properly protected. By putting our experience to work for our clients, we can assist with making the most of this opportunity.