Blockchain and IP: Smart Contracts, Protecting Innovations, Enforcing Licenses, and More

BarbriSFCourseDetails

Course Details

Course Information

smart_display Format
On-Demand
signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
work Practice Area
Trademark and Copyright

Date & Time

event Date
Thursday, January 23, 2020
schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
timer Program Length
90 minutes

Credit Information

This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$347.00

This CLE course will familiarize counsel with some of the current and potential uses of blockchains, and more broadly, distributed ledger technology (DLT). The panel will also discuss the legal and regulatory hurdles that companies may encounter in implementing and transacting on DLT platforms, handling crypto-tokens, and working with smart contracts.

Faculty

Chau Brian

Shareholder

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, LLP

Mr. Chau focuses on intellectual property, primarily patent prosecution, strategy, and portfolio management. Mr. Chau's corporate / commercial experience includes employment / independent contractor agreements, financing agreements, transactional agreements for mergers and acquisitions, non-disclosure agreements, licensing agreements, confidentiality agreements, collaboration agreements, and conducting due diligence.

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Smith Evan

Shareholder

Cogent Law Group, LLP

Mr. Smith is a licensed patent attorney, electrical engineer, MBA and serial entrepreneur who founded tech startups serving international markets. His strategic advice on corporate and IP issues draws on decades of experience in all aspects of forming companies, raising funds, and protecting, enforcing, and licensing patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Mr. Smith has been an advisor to hundreds of fast-growing companies that built valuable portfolios in the medical, electronic, internet, computer and mechanical fields. As a partner at Greenberg Traurig, he led the IP department at the firm’s main technology office.

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Collen Bennett

Shareholder

Triblock Advisory, LLC

Mr. Collen leads GoDaddy's blockchain + trademark initiative and is an adjunct professor at the Boston College Carroll School of Management, teaching Business Applications of Blockchain. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Cognate, which was acquired by GoDaddy in September 2018. Mr. Collen is the Coordinator of the Blockchain Task Force for the Emerging Issues Committee of the International Trademark Association (INTA), sits on the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council within the Digital Chamber of Commerce, and is a Founding Member of the Chamber's Token Alliance Group. Mr. Collen is a sought after speaker, presenting lectures, webinars, and education sessions on blockchain and blockchain + trademarks at universities and events in the U.S. and Europe.

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Description

Blockchains are decentralized, peer-to-peer networked databases that can store and authenticate a ledger of assets and asset transactions. One significant benefit of blockchain technology is that transactions can occur without a third-party intermediary; instead, transactions are validated by consensus. The best-known use to date has been Bitcoin cryptocurrency transactions, but major companies are employing DLT in many other environments.

Blockchain technology provides the underlying platform for the issuance and redemption of crypto-tokens as well as an environment for the operation of smart contracts. Crypto-tokens can take myriad forms to represent units of value, rights, privileges, and/or access and for trade among interested parties. Smart contracts are computer programs designed to implement aspects of a transaction. Beyond just transferring value from one place to another, smart contracts can access and transfer a variety of information depending upon predetermined conditions. Counsel advising clients developing or participating in a blockchain need to grasp both the technology and the legal ramifications involved.

Blockchain and DLTs, including smart contracts, are undergoing a rapid rate of technological innovation. In particular, innovations are being made in respect of specific technical innovations that attempt address technical problems relating to scalability (e.g., transaction throughput), human error (e.g., lost keys), protocol hardening/security (e.g., improved cryptography), and token minting (e.g., modified proof-of-stake), among others. Further innovations are being made in respect of uses of private DLTs operated on semi-trusted or trusted nodes within an organization or a set of organizations. These innovations are protectable using various intellectual property protections, including, for example, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets, but care needs to be taken in how the innovations are described and characterized to obtain protection.

Listen as our authoritative panel explains the technology behind blockchain and DLT and its growing list of applications across a spectrum of industries. The panel will also discuss some of the legal issues involved with blockchain-based offerings, including government regulations, privacy laws, intellectual property, and smart contract enforcement.