patents – RightsTech Project

Verizon filed for a blockchain patent

August 23, 2016By rightstech

Business Insider obtained a copy of the US patent, filed on May 10, for a passcode blockchain that Verizon has apparently been working on for three years. The patent relates to digital content — think an e-book or a digital-music or video file.

According to the filing, “The DRM (digital rights management) system may maintain a list of passcodes in a passcode blockchain. The passcode blockchain may store a sequence of passcodes associated with the particular digital content and may indicate a currently valid passcode. For example, a first passcode may be assigned to a first user and designated as the valid passcode. If the access rights are transferred to a second user, a second passcode may be obtained and added to the blockchain, provided to the second user, and designated as the valid passcode. Thus, the first passcode may no longer be considered valid.”

Source: Verizon filed for a blockchain patent – Business Insider

NBC Universal Scores Patent to Detect and Target Pirates

July 11, 2016By rightstech

Over the past several years various anti-piracy tools have been deployed. Nonetheless, piracy is still very much alive today with hundreds of millions of people sharing infringing files every month.

While there’s no silver bullet to stop all piracy indefinitely, NBC Universal scored a new patent this month which it believes may help. Titled “Early Detection of High Volume Peer-To-Peer swarms,” one of the patent’s main goals is to detect and target instances of online piracy before the problem spreads.

Source: NBC Universal Scores Patent to Detect and Target Pirates – TorrentFreak

The mad rush to own the rights to the blockchain

July 5, 2016By rightstech

Scanning global patent registries turns up dozens of active claimants filing patents on blockchain tech, including teams from major corporations. If granted, anyone who wanted to use a blockchain technology like any one successfully patented would have to pay that patent holder a license fee. And with major banking institutions looking to get in on the blockchain action, the money involved in those licenses would likely not be inconsiderable.

While proving a patent-level novel use of a technology is difficult, this has not stopped a digital gold rush from popping up around the blockchain. Banks, once threatened by the blockchain’s potential to do away with swathes of their business have instead started looking for ways to control the tech, making enormous investments in blockchain application development.

Source: The mad rush to own the rights to the blockchain | Fusion