Community IP: the case for an ICO Patent fund
▻https://hackernoon.com/community-ip-the-case-for-an-ico-patent-fund-6ceb2098980c?source=rss----
In 2014 I applied for a patent on the particular type of hardware wallet i was developing at the time. I thought it was a good idea, once before someone else had patented something I had publicly disclosed and thought it a necessary to protect myself going forward. Long story short- I abandoned the patent process after vehement protest from some members in the then Bitcoin community. (Interestingly, I paid my lawyer in Bitcoin- perhaps one of the first transactions of it’s kind: BitcoinTalk). At the time I had been convinced the precedent was a bad one to follow, but I’ve never stopped thinking about how the ‘real’ world intersects with #blockchain- and how blockchain is increasingly become the ‘real’ world.It is inevitable that elements of blockchain will be patented, it’s already happening. (...)