What is a transaction?
It is the only operation that can be carried out on a blockchain. It allows a movement to be recorded in the general ledger. This movement can be the transfer of assets from one owner to another, the creation of assets or the 'burning' of assets, to name the most typical cases. A transaction in essence contains the following data:
- Sender (encrypted public key)
- Beneficiary (encrypted public key)
- Asset (currency or token)
- Amount
- Date / time
- Additional information (meta-data)
In theory, any transaction recorded on a public blockchain will be available for eternity. As long as a node exists on the network, it is alive and its LEDGER is searchable by anyone.
The most fundamental use of a transaction is to move an asset, but since additional information can be attached to a transaction, it can be seen as a way of storing immutable information, with a record of the date and time it was stored. In other words, a transaction can be used on paper to leave a sort of message on a wall (the blockchain) to say even a "Farid was here".
What does this have to do with intellectual property?
Immutability, timestamping, the ability to write meta-data and the property that they belong to only one entity at a time in an infallible way, makes transactions an ideal way to store patents, trademark and copyright. If we look at it from the simplest view, we can use a blockchain transaction to write a poem and then if someone else claims authorship, we would have irrefutable evidence that we claimed it first.
In fact, Li???Lio? has already done this and registered the first poem on the Cardano blockchain:
https://adastat.net/transactions/d6dc406ebefa216815aa31dffa0f2cd3b0e81484632eab9f379ceb4b37e25470/#meta
In fact, in the US state of Vermont, there is a law that allows the admission of blockchain transactions as evidence in any kind of lawsuit, recognising the authenticity and veracity of a transaction as a legal document.
Transactions as certificates of intellectual property
Photo by Jen Theodore
With proper standardisation and legal management, a blockchain can be used to register intellectual property of inventions and works with national and international jurisdiction, allowing authors to own their creations and licenses, issued by the state in a public and transparent manner, searchable and verifiable by any body or individual anywhere in the world, inalienable and only transferable under terms that the issuing body and the author agree upon.
In an article by the International Society of Automation, they mention five use cases for blockchain in intellectual property:
Smart contracts to manage the storage, purchase and sale of patents.
As documentation for the registration of proof of authorship.
Marketplace for buying/selling licenses.
Unification in a global patent system.
Version control and management of digital assets.
The world of intellectual property definitely has much to explore in blockchain technology in search of more efficient ways to protect the authorship rights of inventions and works, transferring control and ownership to the creators, also allowing the creation of alternative licenses to the conventional, outdated and restrictive "copyright".
