In the course of the last two years the term BLOCKCHAIN has become prevalent in social networks and digital means, but what exactly is it?
BLOCKCHAIN is an information system consisting of encrypted blocks containing information organized in registries, feeding a data base as new blocks are added.
As an information model, this tool is recognized and associated mainly with the financial sector; however, upon understanding the operability of a block chain system, the possibility of using it in other arenas can be appreciated.
Without getting too technical, a block chain, given that it is a technology that distributes registries in technologically sequential blocks, allows settling and collecting information of various types such as transactions, registries or any general data, encrypting its content in blocks by means of highly specialized codes whose credibility lies in its inalterability, thanks to the fact that the formation of a new block requires the encrypting of the prior block in the chain, in such a way that if one is altered, it will have repercussions for the entire posterior chain, thus leaving evidential trace of the modification.
This entire mechanism is consensually collated by the various agents involved in the network, whether it is global or private, in such a way that if one block is modified by the original agent, the other participants will notice the change, causing a lack of credibility of the information contained in the altered block.
Despite the fact that the emerging BLOCKCHAIN proposal is currently not being regulated legally to the point of penalizing the modification of encrypted block chains without proper authorization, it remains useful in a practical manner as it allows verifying the information which has not been modified and this aspect confers it assurance, such that some agents in the commercial sector have began to implement BLOCKCHAIN for the protection of private or confidential information in various sectors.
In the case of Intellectual Property, BLOCKCHAIN can be a useful tool for allowing the registration of different key movements in the cycle of the life of a trademark, for example, or for the control of confidential information or industrial secrets, from the time of their creation until a determined moment, given that if a first block is established for encrypting the information related to the first commercial transactions made under a determined trademark or information, it would allow accrediting for any possible future litigations or provide proof of first use date based on the creation date of said block, in a complementary or alternative manner to other traditionally provided proofs in legal procedures.
Similarly, in posterior blocks it would be possible to secure data such as the payment of invoices, digitalized marketing, or even information pertaining to the legal history of IP matters such as registration, renewal, licensing, franchising, all in the language or data format required by the chain block.
Despite this information system continuing to be in a relatively commercial development evolving step, without any indication of intent to legally regulate it, and with multiple divergent points on the criticism regarding its integrity, confidentiality and safety during its application, without a doubt it is worth considering its potential in the future for the management of trademarks, or in a general manner, of intellectual property.
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