The Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) has joined forces with Unified Patents to guard the crypto neighborhood from patent trolls, launching a brand new Blockchain Zone aimed toward difficult patents held by non-practicing entities (NPEs) that might threaten the open-source ecosystem.
In keeping with Unified Patents, this initiative seeks to discourage NPE exercise within the crypto sector, the place such entities account for 58% of all US patent litigation.
Paul Grewal, Chief Authorized Officer at Coinbase and a member of COPA, emphasised the importance of this collaboration, saying:
“Patent trolls are limitations within the path of innovation; they hinder the progress of know-how and stifle the spirit of creativity, significantly within the fast-evolving world of cryptocurrency. They have to be stopped in order that the neighborhood can proceed to do the necessary enterprise of constructing the crypto-economy.”
The partnership affords COPA members pass-through safety for gratis, enhancing their means to innovate with out the looming risk of unwarranted litigation. Steve Lee, Lead at Spiral — a subsidiary of Block and one other COPA member — mentioned:
“COPA has fought lengthy and exhausting to cut back limitations to crypto innovation, together with its efforts to debunk false IP claims associated to Satoshi Nakamoto’s identification, which have plagued the Bitcoin neighborhood. Now, we take COPA’s work a step additional to guard the crypto neighborhood from patent trolls.”
Unified Patents’ current Transactions Zone has already challenged a whole bunch of patents that threatened associated applied sciences. The newly established Blockchain Zone will prolong these efforts to the blockchain trade, making certain that blockchain applied sciences stay open and free from baseless assertions.
In March, the UK Excessive Court docket dominated in opposition to Craig Wright in a case introduced by COPA, declaring that he’s not Satoshi Nakamoto and didn’t create Bitcoin.
Justice Mellor discovered that Wright had “lied to the Court docket extensively and repeatedly” and engaged in “the deliberate manufacturing of false paperwork to help false claims.” The choice undermined a number of of Wright’s different authorized claims that relied on his asserted identification as Bitcoin’s creator.
By becoming a member of over 300 corporations dedicated to deterring invalid patent assertions by NPEs, COPA and Unified Patents goal to foster an atmosphere the place builders can innovate freely. Unified Patents stays the one entity that deters invalid patent assertions with out ever paying NPEs, thereby avoiding incentivizing additional NPE exercise.
Kevin Jakel, founder and CEO of Unified Patents, expressed optimism concerning the partnership, stating:
“We’re glad to companion with COPA to deliver our distinctive resolution to the blockchain neighborhood. It represents an exquisite alternative to make sure that the know-how stays free to develop companies, scale back transaction prices, and ensures it gained’t be hindered by the all-too-common baseless patent assertions affecting different sectors of the economic system.”
The collaboration between COPA and Unified Patents represents a proactive strategy to safeguarding innovation inside the trade. By difficult questionable patents and deterring patent trolls, they search to make sure that blockchain know-how can develop unimpeded, benefiting the whole crypto neighborhood.