Russia’s IPChain Launches Blockchain Intellectual Property Registry
December 6, 2018 by Vladimir Litvinov
IPChain, one of Russia’s pioneering blockchain-based intellectual property companies, has launched its blockchain and recorded the first transactions on it. The development comes after another IP and blockchain meld, EDRID, has gained some initial traction in the nation.
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IPChain Sees Its First Blockchain Transactions
IPChain was launched in 2017 as an association of several royalty collecting societies and the government-sponsored innovation fund Skolkovo, which was supposed to be in charge of the technological side of a blockchain-based intellectual property registry.
This week, IPChain announced that its blockchain is live and the first transactions have been entered on it under a ruling of the country’s intellectual property court.
The first records on IPChain’s blockchain included information on changes in a copyright ownership structure, approved by the court.
The involvement of the court is a major sign that information entered on the new blockchain platform will be accepted by Russia’s official agencies, IPChain stressed.
“We have witnessed an unprecedented case when Russian legislative norms are being carrying out by a technological system,” Andrei Krichevsky, president of IPChain, said in a statement.
“Immediate, transparent and efficient interaction between market participants and the government, without financial burdens or excessive time consumption is certainly a breakthrough,” he went on to say.
“Five years ago, predicting that the intellectual property court would operate on the blockchain would sound like science fiction, but today it’s reality,” added Ludmila Novoselova, chairwoman of the court.
Aiming Ahead, How Much Ground Is There to Gain?
The association’s plans include the creation of a full-fledged immutable registry of intellectual property owners on the blockchain in a bid to respond to the constantly growing number of digital objects of intellectual property, including music, movies, software, trademarks and books, as well as pharmaceutical recipes and architectural designs.
According to Krichevsky, only blockchain-based solutions could facilitate proper registration and protection of intellectual property.
Incidentally, intellectual property is an area actively explored by Russian blockchain companies eager to address the sector’s issues with transparency and accountability, issues which have become especially acute over the last few years.
Earlier this year, St Petersburg-based United Depository of Intellectual Property Products, known by its Russian acronym EDRID, announced an intellectual property registry built on the Ethereum blockchain, but it is apparently a smaller operation than what IPChain plans to achieve.
What’s your take? Is IP + blockchain a good or bad meld? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images via Pixabay
