Richard Kastelein, Founder, Publisher and Editor in Chief of Blockchain News, reports that The Chamber of Digital Commerce has formed the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council (B
IPC), an initiative to promote innovation in Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) by addressing intellectual property issues. The council will help balance the protection of proprietary information with the openness necessary for innovation. The Blockchain Intellectual Property Council will be chaired by Marc Kaufman, Partner at Rimon Law; Patrick Murck, Special Counsel, Cooley & Fellow at Berkman Klein Center at Harvard; and James Murdock, Chief Business Officer and General Counsel at Blockstream.
The Blockchain Intellectual Property Council (BIPC) was formally announced by Boring at the Chamber of Digital Commerce Blockchain Summit in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2017.The BIPC’s executive committee includes Chain, Digital Asset, IBM, Microsoft, CoinDesk, Blockstream, Bloq, Civic, Cognizant, Deloitte, Digital Currency Group, Ernst & Young, Gem, Medici Ventures, T0.com, TMX and Wipfli.
According to Kastelein, more than 40 institutions across technology, finance, academia and law have already committed to the council, including Blockstream, Bloq, Civic, Cognizant, Deloitte, Digital Currency Group, Ernst & Young, Gem, Medici Ventures, Microsoft, T0.com, TMX and Wipfli. The BIPC Co-chairs will be presenting on the IP panel at the DC Blockchain Summit, hosted by The Chamber in Washington D.C., March 15-16. A kickoff meeting is scheduled for March 30, 2017. Academics, Blockchain technologists, financial institutions, IP experts, open source communities and others interested in intellectual property issues are encouraged to sign up. Please contact [email protected] for additional details.
The Blockchain Intellectual Property Council had recently been established and initiated a commitment to combat patent trolls in the field of digital commerce and elsewher. More than 70 participants from corporations like Microsoft and IBM, financial institutions, technology companies, startups, academia and legal experts met recently with the Chamber of Digital Commerce to hash out a strategy going forward to deal with patent issues including the exponential growth in patent troll companies in the blockchain sector.
The Chamber of Digital Commerce is a Washington, D.C.-based international trade association representing and promoting digital currencies and blockchain businesses to governments, regulatory agencies and other industries. In addition to the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council, the Chamber has created the Smart Contracts Alliance, the Blockchain Alliance, and the Global Blockchain Forum among other industry initiatives.
Chamber Founder and President Perianne Boring has acknowledged the urgency of dealing with patent trolls (companies that buy patents not to use them but to demand royalties and sue for damages) but also stresses the importance of creating an industry body that is organized and ready to deal with all intellectual property issues as they arise in the future and bringing the community together to foster collaboration and a healthy ecosystem.
Boring believes that the council must include a broad range of experts and organizations to be as effective as possible. Boring told Bitcoin Magazine : “We are welcoming financial institutions, technology companies, startups, academics, nonprofits and others committed to supporting blockchain adoption to participate in the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council. A multi-stakeholder approach will be essential to addressing intellectual property in the blockchain ecosystem.
The Chamber of Digital Commerce claims to be the world’s leading trade association dedicated to promoting the understanding, acceptance and use of digital assets and Blockchain technology. Through education, advocacy, and working closely with policymakers, regulatory agencies, and industry, our goal is to develop a pro-growth legal environment that fosters innovation, jobs and investment. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Chamber is the founder of the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council, the Smart Contracts Alliance, the Blockchain Alliance, the Global Blockchain Forum and other key industry initiatives.
For more about this see, Chamber of Digital Commerce Forms the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council
For more about Blockchain IP, watch the following video of March 28, 2017 in which moderator Marc Kaufman, Partner, Rimon Law leads panelists Paul Keller, Partner Norton Rose Fulbright; Patrick Murck, Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Special Counsel, Cooley; and James Murdock, Chief Business Officer & General Counsel, Blockstream Corporation discuss the dichotomy between protecting intellectual property assets and fostering innovation:
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