Key Points
COPA and Unified Patents Team Up Against Patent Trolls
The Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) has joined forces with Unified Patents. Their goal is to tackle patent trolls. The partnership was announced on October 1.
They are creating the Blockchain Zone. This initiative aims to safeguard blockchain developers and companies. They want to protect them from legal challenges by non-practicing entities and patent trolls.
Patent trolls are individuals or organizations that profit from patents. They do this through licensing or litigation, often without any intention to develop or use the technology themselves.
COPA was established in 2020 by Jack Dorsey, who also founded fintech firm Block, formerly known as Square. COPA’s mission is to ensure that key crypto technologies are free for everyone to use. Among the notable members of COPA are MicroStrategy, Worldcoin, Kraken, and Blockstream.
Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of COPA founding member Coinbase, has spoken about the need to stop patent trolls. He describes them as obstacles to innovation that hinder progress and stifle creativity.
Last year, non-practicing entities were responsible for 58% of all patent litigations. Most of these cases were directed towards tech companies like Samsung, Google, and Apple.
Patent Trolls in the Crypto Space
The crypto space has already seen cases of alleged patent trolling. An example is the DeFi Education Fund (DEF)’s move to cancel a patent owned by True Return Systems (TRS) last year.
TRS had sued MakerDAO and Compound Finance for allegedly infringing on its patent. This patent connects off-chain data to a blockchain. DEF labeled TRS a “patent troll” and argued that the patent should never have been issued.
The Blockchain Zone aims to prevent such legal challenges from slowing down development. It seeks to keep the blockchain sector free from “baseless patent assertions,” according to Kevin Jakel, CEO of Unified Patents.
As part of the collaboration, COPA members will receive pass-through protection at no cost. This means they will not have to face legal threats from non-practicing entities alone.
COPA has been working towards debunking false intellectual property claims within the community. They once brought a case against Dr. Craig Wright, who claimed to be Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. In March 2024, UK High Court Judge James Mellor ruled that Wright was not involved in the development of Bitcoin and was not Satoshi.
