China Leads the Charge in Blockchain Technology Patents

Blockchain technology has risen in popularity over the past five years as the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. At its base level, it is an open ledger of information that can be used to record and track transactions, which is exchanged and verified on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. This technology is a trustworthy and transparent record by facilitating multiple parties on a trade to confirm what will be entered into a ledger in advance without a single power being able to edit or change it at a later date.

Innovators across the globe filed over 3.1 million patent applications, with China topping the list. In the last year alone China filed over 41 blockchain-related patents internationally. Very focused on innovation for the future, China’s government is launching a set of “national standards” for blockchain technology as a foundation for future wide-scale use. The end of 2019 will publish this set of nationalised standards. Shenzhen-based telecom and networking company, Huawei, filed a patent application in 2016 for a Blockchain-based verification system for protection of intellectual property rights for digital content within a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. The filing describes the web as a blockchain that records all verification data, a point of access and the ID of the copyright holder. The platform emphasises that strict requirements be met before the release of data. Validation data must be an exact match, and the system will compare the private key or license before giving access. China’s State Intellectual Property Office published this patent application on Tuesday, March 6th 2018.

The potential use of blockchain technology for the management of Intellectual Property is immense and recording IP rights in a distributed ledger instead of a traditional database would effectively disrupt the industry as a whole. Following the Blockchain Security Summit 2018 in Beijing the Director of the Blockchain Research Office, Li Ming stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is not rushing the process of creating a blockchain standard but merely to guide it. This groundwork of setting up accessible blockchain foundations is noteworthy in light of the massive increase in technological innovation in China. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) also filed a new blockchain patent on Friday 22nd June 2018 for a digital wallet which allows users to track their transactions.

Subsequently, this progress sets the stage for perhaps an even more significant move that the People’s Republic is preparing to launch a national cryptocurrency. Reporters at the Global Blockchain Summit noted a sneak peek at the Blockchain Technology Institute where the Bank of China is making what may be the biggest ICO yet. [Source: Economic Information Daily]