Patents On NFT? No, NFT On Patents!

Patents and innovation are closely linked. Patents can boost innovation by granting a legal monopoly over certain technology, and inventors may be willing to invest more time, money and creativity into their inventions if they can do this in anticipation of being rewarded with such monopoly on their invention. Furthermore, patents boost future innovation because the technology protected by a patent will be made publicly available and can be used by everyone once the patent protection term expires. However, patents may even hinder innovation, because technology and its further-development could be blocked by existing patents.

Thus, it is no surprise that the patent scene regularly discusses new technologies and phenomena, like NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens - for further information see here). Let us leave aside the question of whether existing patents on NFT-related technology can hinder the development and use of NFT technology as such, but turn to the question of NFT