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ARTICLE · 09 JANUARY 2018

Patenting The Blockchain

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These moves come with controversy in an industry known for its culture of open-source practices.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Safraz Ishmael
Safraz Ishmael
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Last year's spike in the valuation of bitcoin has much of the technology world focused on blockchain, the distributed database ledger technology behind bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies.  Lost behind the scenes, however, is a rush by some in the industry to patent inventions relating to the blockchain technology itself.  These moves come with controversy in an industry known for its culture of open-source practices.

Patenting blockchain technology is catching on.  According to a search of the Patent Office's database, there have been over 50 U.S. patents issued relating to blockchain technology, almost all of them issuing over the last few years.  And there are many more such patents in the pipeline.  A search of U.S. patent applications shows that there are well over 500 published patent applications relating to the technology, and there are likely many more pending unpublished applications in the space.  While many of the patent filers appear to be

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