Blockchain technology enables secure business activity over the Internet between various entities, with a high level of security and privacy, and without a centralized managing body. This technology was first introduced by the use of Bitcoins a decade ago, and its use has since expanded into finance and commerce, as well as other areas, such as the transfer of medical records, voting systems and document verification. Blockchain has many other possible uses, and startups and leading organizations which have realized its potential may be able to improve the technology and expand its application through the development of apps and software.
The commonly-held misperception among many entrepreneurs is that software inventions cannot be patent protected, or that they bear no value. However, the greater part of the world’s most developed countries does allow patents to be registered for software technologies and affords them enforcement. Patent protection is possible when concerning a new technology solution that addresses an existing software problem, as do Blockchain applications. Entrepreneurs and companies that provide appropriate Intellectual Property protection for their development, will increase the venture’s value in the eyes of potential investors, and succeed in blocking or restricting their competitors.
It is important for a patent to have already been registered at the initial stages of the venture’s idea. Any exposure of concepts or particulars prior to filing an application to register a patent may adversely affect the chances of obtaining the patent and, in its absence, the enterprise will find itself at a business disadvantage with its competitors. It is also very important to have the Intellectual Property strategy planned out in accordance with the venture’s business objectives, and to expand its portfolio of patents as it grows.
Reinhold Cohn’s patent attorneys have a technological and business understanding which comes from years of sustained experience in software and hardware, and which results in their having the means to provide strategic consulting, file patent applications, and manage e patent portfolios from a broad and long-term perspective.