Chain of Custody: Why Tracking Your Innovation from Beginning to End is Critical

As important as it is to establish ownership of your innovation, it is just as critical to track that innovation through its entire lifecycle. As discussed in our last article, “Open Innovation: A Global Movement but Not Without Risks:”

“Without a clear chain of custody, two important and potentially very costly risk factors exist. First, an inventor or organization whose contribution is not captured would lose all economic rights derived from the invention. Second, if a patent that results from the collaboration is ever litigated, incorrect inventorship credit can lead to the patent being invalidated. This renders the patent worthless. Maintaining a clear, provable chain of custody over the entire innovation lifecycle is critical.”

What is Chain of Custody?

Chain of Custody is the paper (or electronic) trail that records the order of custody, control, transfer, analysis and disposition of evidence or physical or intellectual property. An individual is said to have custody of something when they have produced or viewed it, or it has simply been in their possession. Any activity — whether it is a tweak in content, change in the contributor, location, or accessibility — must be recorded and there must be no gaps. Chain of custody is the concept that possession can be tracked, managed, and properly documented, even when there have been multiple contributors at any step along the way.

Chain of custody has long existed in various forms across multiple industries. It becomes critical in any context where sensitive information and valuable (or vulnerable) goods are moved from one party to another. Anything from the handling of pharmaceuticals, lab materials, food products, automobiles, and even container shipments worldwide benefit from a tamper-proof chain of custody sequence. For the U.S. government, a provable chain of custody is invaluable in housing a massive amount of confidential documents that must be guarded closely. The circulation of such confidential information within a department — names, reports of executive agencies, documentation relating to federal and national affairs — must be tracked rigorously and signed off from one individual to another to prevent leaks.

Consider the real life example of global trade: Shipping containers and trailers are tracked internationally through the use of container security devices (CSDs). A unique identification code is assigned to each person who authorizes a particular shipment including contents and destination, correlating timestamps and a virtual signature. Any tampering or issues discovered with a certain shipment can be investigated through a detailed history of the shipment’s travel path — along with every individual who had access to it. This is critical in the world of supply chains where as many as 100 different people can interact with a shipment as it crosses multiple borders and checkpoints.

Taking Control of Your Innovations

In the realm of intellectual property however, chain of custody is unevenly applied, if at all. How do you prove that your a-ha moment was really yours to begin with? When collaborating with multiple contributors on an invention, how can you prevent the corruption and unintentional borrowing of ideas? How can you prove who invented what? In a legal environment, neglecting to document all inventors and their contributions correctly may even invalidate a patent or patent application.

Four key points are worth considering when securing inventor-ship:

1. Integrity: the idea (or image, photo, design, logo, written work, etc.) has been captured in a truthful manner, and a proof of its capture is available.

2. Traceability: the idea can be traced from the time of its creation until it is patented, trademarked, or copyrighted — with no gaps in custody.

3. Authentication: all individuals interacting with the invention must provide an irrefutable proof of their identity.

4. Security: Once recorded, the above information must not be altered or corrupted.

The confusion surrounding idea ownership is understandable, as there have been no easy means to capture an idea securely, much less track it without the expensive involvement of attorneys.

The Blockchain Advantage

Blockchain technology allows for a clear chain of custody to be associated with your innovation, dramatically reducing the risk of misinterpretation. From the moment your thought is recorded, an irrefutable record of ownership can be vaulted into the blockchain. You are then able to safely disclose your innovation to others, and track who’s seen, added to, and shared your idea with others — all with an accurate and unchangeable timestamp of each activity. This process may even increase the value of an innovation by providing assurance to a potential business partner that your idea was original and that you can demonstrate ownership — thereby setting the stage for an expedited license agreement.

Chain of Custody Made Easy — The Operem Platform

Until today, there have been many roadblocks preventing users from maintaining a proper chain of custody for their innovations. The lack of industry standards and user knowledge of exactly how to record transactions, along with the expense and time-consuming nature of engaging an attorney, have meant many innovators feel forced to take short-cuts or leave critical steps completely undocumented.

The Operem platform was designed to address these issues with a simple, standardized, and easy-to-use interface for both novices and expert practitioners of IP. Operem’s Secure Disclosure™ solution lets users quickly and properly document their innovation by uploading text, lab notes, images and videos — even scans of the proverbial cocktail napkin — to create a detailed and immutable record of their invention, piece of art, music, writing, graphic, or other intellectual property. Users can then choose to collaborate with a third party under a standard or custom NDA and that collaboration is also time-stamped and vaulted onto the blockchain. Over time, as an invention or other piece of IP advances, all interactions can be properly recorded and tracked, creating a detailed, auditable record of the entire chain-of-custody from inspiration to patent, trademark, copyright or even trade secret. In the near future, the Operem platform will even allow users to buy, sell, trade, and license IP as well.

Safely documenting your ideas and collaborations from beginning to end can be daunting — which is why Operem’s Secure Disclosure is setting a new standard for idea management from beginning to end. With the use of powerful and easy-to-use tools like Operem’s Secure Disclosure, you can stay in control of your invention.