The Intersection of Patent Law and the Blockchain Ecosystem

About the Course:

This unique course provides a methodical overview of the blockchain ecosystem. The lecturer imparts critical insights relative to using blockchain technology to protect intellectual property as well as how intellectual property can be harnessed to protect blockchain technology.

This session begins with defining the parameters and applications of blockchain technology. The following are among the issues addressed:

• A sound working definition of blockchain technology.
• The three main properties of cryptographic hash.
• A primer on the functionality of blockchain, including a review of blocks, hyper-blockchains, public key cryptography, nodes, hashes and ledgers.
• A discussion of the applicability of blockchain in the realms of financial transactions, registries, digital content rights, smart contracts, identity and the provenance of goods.
• Parallels between open source and blockchain technology.
• The potential for misuse of various permutations of blockchain, including by criminal elements.
• Security risks.
• Segmentation and trend analysis relative to the growth of a variety of blockchain subsectors as evidenced by patent publication statistics.

The second part of the webinar consists of a discussion of patenting blockchain technologies as well as using blockchain to protect intellectual property. Related issues include:

• The pros and cons of patenting versus trade secreting blockchain technologies.
• The art units in which blockchain patents are reviewed.
• Detectability of possible patent infringement.
• Best practices for drafting blockchain patent claims, including drafting such claims with an eye towards asserting against large channel partners as opposed to end users.
• Insight into how blockchain can be utilized to track patent assignments.
• Fulfilling patent marking requirements when placing blockchain in the commercial stream.
• An overview of the difficulties in calculating damages relating to the infringement of blockchain patents.

Course Leader: Marc Kaufman, Partner, Rimon Law

Marc Kaufman concentrates his practice in the area of patent strategy, in particular, advising clients in protecting, managing and monetizing their intellectual property assets. He has represented clients in defending against patent assertions in district courts and through post-grant administrative proceedings in the U.S. Patent Office, such as Inter Partes Reviews. Mr. Kaufman has been active in creating procedures to secure and enforce intellectual property rights, as well as structuring and negotiating intellectual property transactions.

Working extensively in the space of Fintech, Mr. Kaufman also has experience in the media and advertising space, and software generally. His technical work includes distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto currency, securities trading exchanges content aggregation and targeting, digital rights management, database technology, search engine technology, and data mining.

Course Length: Approx. 1.0 hours

$175.00 PER USER