New proposal for a layered, conceptual, NFT-based patent framework

By taking advantage of blockchain technology, digital assets are broadly grouped into fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFT). NFT refers to those with unique and non-substitutable properties.

A research team led by Prof. QU Qiang from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini Bamakan from Yazd University has proposed a layered, conceptual, NFT-based patent framework.

The study was published in Scientific Reports on Feb. 9.

Although NFTs have had many applications so far, it has rarely been used to solve real-world problems.

Applying for a patent and trademark is time-consuming and costly. With the help of unique features of NFT technology, it is possible to accelerate this process. In fact, tokenizing patents would provide more transparency, traceability, and cost-efficiency of commercialization. NFT-based patents may facilitate reliable information sharing among offices and patentees around the world, reducing the burden on examiners and perhaps even accelerating harmonization efforts.

NFTs can offer IP protection while an applicant waits for the government to grant his/her more formal protection. By using hash and asymmetric cryptography, IP owners can record a claim, such as hash or ciphered claims in the blockchain network. The IP owner can prove his/her property right using the original document and its hash or private key without third-party involvement.

It would give them the ability to ‘tokenize’ their patents. Because every transaction would be logged on a blockchain, it will be much easier to trace patent ownership changes.