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ARTICLE · 20 JANUARY 2023

Will DAOs Be Patent Litigants?

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
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Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP

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Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a popular way to organize technical projects. They perform significant work in multiple areas, especially developing crypto financial software systems.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Kristopher B. Kastens
Kristopher B. Kastens
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Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a popular way to organize technical projects. They perform significant work in multiple areas, especially developing crypto financial software systems. As such, they may one day become embroiled in patent litigation, even though such litigation has been rare in the blockchain space.

DAOs have many unique properties related to how they engage in litigation. In this article, we discuss DAOs as potential patent litigants. DAOs are rising in prominence and are used to manage capital in an ever-increasing number of technology areas. As this continues, the odds that DAOs are involved in patent litigation, as plaintiff or defendant, continue to grow.

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