Using Blockchain To Resuscitate The US Patent Process
Patents and specifically the intellectual property they protect are the lifeblood of technology and innovation. They provide the security for companies to survive and expand as well as the ability for entrepreneurs to follow their dreams. Ironically, at a time of rapid technological expansion, the U.S. patent system is broken. It remains stuck in a system reliant on antiquated technology and processes. Think of ink stained clerks perched at drafting desks as described by Charles Dickens and you’ll get the general idea. A little bit of an exaggeration? Not much.
By using blockchain technology to create claims to novel inventions and the capability to search existing records, Loci has developed a patent research and invention system worthy of the 21st Century. It provides a boon to casual and professional inventors, investors, attorneys and others who access the intellectual property landscape on a regular basis.
What’s wrong with the current system? One of the main problems is a lack of transparency. The current system in the United States is a “first-to-file” process, which favors large corporations that can afford the steep legal fees associated with filing more patents, more quickly. But that’s not all. Anyone filing a patent has an obligation to ensure that an identical or largely similar patent or publication has not been publicly disclosed and filed prior to his or her own submission. If they find a disclosure or filing that pre-dates their own, their own submission will not be awarded the patent. What’s most egregious is that patent filings are usually not disclosed for an average of sixteen months.
The cost of undertaking a search for a previously disclosed or filed patent applications, what’s termed “prior art,” can be time consuming and expensive, often relying upon the expertise and experience of pricey patent attorneys. The pursuit of a patent can cost between $10,000 and $30,000 without the guarantee of actually getting it. By the time all is said and done the cost of finally achieving a patent can run more than $50,000. Those figures don’t take into account the countless hours and hard to come by dollars that a self-financed inventor or small company may spend pursuing an invention that unbeknownst to them was already filed with the patent office.
Loci is a company that has developed solutions to address these issues. Fittingly the story begins with a patent, “System and Method for Fuzzy Concept Mapping, Voting Ontology Crowd Sourcing, and Technology Prediction (US9461876).” Loci’s CEO John Wise together with Dennis Van Dusen came up with the idea in 2008. The patent was incorporated into the InnVenn technology which Loci launched in February 2017. It’s a long name, but an easily accessible technology.
The InnVenn platform began as a uniquely visual tool to search for existing patents. Its capabilities enable it to search the web for existing patents, technical papers, products and even ideas. The search results are displayed in a series of overlapping circles, a user-friendly Venn diagram populated by small black dots that signify existing ideas and patents. The “whitespace” between dots may indicate opportunities for invention, space that has not yet been claimed in the landrush for technology patents.
InnVenn’s depiction of “whitespace” serves several different purposes. For inventors it can show where there is space for innovation and how the space between two existing patents could be closed by a third one: the next “big thing.” The flip side, of course, is that InnVenn can be used for searches of existing patents, showing previous patents that have already been or may soon be granted. For product developers and investors InnVenn aggregates closely related patents that can be licensed or packaged together for use in a single service or product. For anyone who needs reliable access to the patent system Loci offers a savings of time and money.
Blockchain technology is the newest addition to Loci’s InnVenn platform, adding another dimension to its powerful search capabilities. When a claim is created within InnVenn and the patent process started, it can be made searchable for other users who are looking within the same space. When that claim is selected, it creates a disclosure event which begins a 12 month grace period in which he or she has the exclusive ability to file a provisional patent. The inclusion of an invention on the blockchain offers irrefutable proof of the time as well as confirmation of the disclosure. Of course all additions made through the InnVenn platform can be made to show up on relevant searches or simply use the platform to jump start the patent filing process.
The blockchain does something more by creating a community of innovators, investors and service providers within the Loci ecosystem. Access to InnVenn is obtained through the purchase of LOCIcoin tokens or fiat. Those searching by means of InnVenn can pay for a monthly subscription using the tokens and will also be able to access licensing opportunities through the platform. LOCIcoin will serve as a global currency for intellectual property allowing for uniform pricing and the creation of blockchain based smart contracts within the InnVenn platform.
Patents have always been about the “next big thing,” and critics should not underestimate their importance to our country as well as the well-being of the world economy. Patents are in fact the only economic mechanism to be mentioned specifically in the U.S. Constitution, which reads, in part, “Congress shall have power… to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” Loci is there to make sure that those sentiments can be applied to rapidly evolving technologies of the present day and beyond.
