Recently, a professor at Texas A&M University School of Law publish Research explores use cases of blockchain technology in the field of copyright management. According to their findings, blockchain has the potential to fundamentally change the way intellectual property rights are handled “domestically and internationally.”
The paper’s sole author, Dr. Peter Yu, Regents’ Professor of Law and Communication and Director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M University School of Law, believes that the immutability of blockchain makes it a prime candidate system for integration with intellectual property.
According to the paper:
“On a blockchain, once a transaction is recorded, it is almost impossible to change that record. If a transaction is recorded incorrectly, a new transaction must be hashed into the blockchain to provide corrections. Therefore, the immutability feature makes blockchain Enable technology is very attractive for registering copyrights, storing ownership and licensing records, or completing other similar tasks.”
Dr. Yu went on to explain that for copyright systems in particular, blockchain ledgers could provide a way for people to determine the status of a particular record, such as whether the copyright has fallen into the public domain or become orphaned.
Research shows that other benefits include traceability, transparency and disintermediation.
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Traceability is defined in the paper as the ability to track the entire life cycle of a registration on a copyright ledger from the beginning. Making this information available to the public via a blockchain browser or similar method would provide additional transparency that traditional server-based systems of record cannot provide.
The final benefit discussed in Yu’s doctoral thesis is disintermediation, which involves the ability of blockchains to operate independently of governing bodies.
“Without reliance on trusted intermediaries such as governments, banks, or clearinghouses, the technology enables global collaboration even without the involvement or support of governments or intergovernmental agencies,” the paper states.
Dr. Yu speculates that these benefits could lead to an artist/corporate-dominated copyright system, where intellectual property rights may be registered and mediated independently of the state.
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