IPCHAIN: creative products will be able to move freely among various industries
Andrey Krichevsky, President of the IPChain Association, spoke at “Global Digital Content Market” international conference hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Authors’ perspectives in the independent management of rights and their receipt of royalties for the use of works, as well as the possibility of interaction of various digital information databases on rights and intellectual property objects became one of the key topics of the online session “Rights Management and Infrastructure Solutions: Shaping the Future of the Global Digital Market Content”.
President of the IPChain Association Andrey Krichevsky stressed that the IPChain blockchain network makes it possible to simultaneously solve two main tasks of the global intellectual property market – fixing all stages of the “life cycle” of creative products and creating communication channels for the exchange of information between users, copyright holders, business structures and the government.
“There are projects in many countries that use blockchain technologies for the circulation of rights and transactions. But usually these are separate blockchain systems for separate segments of content: to record the use of music, to conduct transactions with know-how or with works of art. They operate strictly in a specific industry segment. In some countries, there are one or two such projects, and in others – more than a dozen, – said Krichevsky. “We researched the global market and saw that no one tried to unify the circulation of rights, “separate” it from a specific segment, or build a LegalTech solution for all types of IP”.
It is impossible to replace and falsify data on the blockchain network. Therefore, it is possible to create various services: to record data about the creative products, and also about transactions with rights. Each segment of the creative economy can build its own services: depositing software code or music, sites for deals with musical beats or photographs. Services and platforms based on the IPChain infrastructure are also largely industry-specific, work on the basis of special solutions for programmers, artists, musicians, industrial designers, technology startups, etc.
At the same time, information about all actions with intellectual rights eventually falls into the IPChain network in a standardized form. Ultimately, creative products will be able to move freely among different industries while maintaining an adequate level of protection for copyright holders.
The creation of such national IP networks in each jurisdiction, according to the President of the IPChain Association, is the first step towards a global infrastructure of the intellectual property market. Andrey Krichevsky highlighted the importance of the consolidating role of WIPO in this process, since the “white papers” and recommendations of the organization allow countries to create their own blockchain networks for the circulation of rights, taking into account the best practices and with an understanding of cross-border mechanisms.
“If we implement common standards, the second step will be simple – to transfer data in cross-border transactions with rights from one IP network to another. National patent offices, for example, can act as hubs for such information exchange. As a result, we will get a global infrastructure for circulation of copyright and patent rights, and copyright holders will be guaranteed protection in any territory. Developing court practice will also help to follow this road map: in most developed countries, courts are very supportive of technologies and accept blockchain records as evidence,” Krichevsky said.
The online session discussions were also attended by Alice Coleman, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mechanical Licensing Collective, COO of ABKCO Music & Records; Niklas Molinder, Co-founder and CEO of Session; Guillermo Ocampo, CEO of Latin Autor; Talal Chamoun, CEO of Intertrust; Wu Guangyong, CEO of FirstBrave Technology; Michael Huppy, President and CEO of Sound Exchange; and Amobe Mevege, France 24 journalist.
