COPA and Unified Patents sign partnership to protect the crypto community from patent trolls

• Launch of Blockchain Zone to challenge patents owned by non-practicing entities (NPEs) that could impact the open-source ecosystem
• NPEs still account for 58% of all [US] patent litigation; partnership aims to deter NPE activity in crypto

October 1, 2024 – Today, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit community formed to encourage the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency technologies, and Unified Patents, a member-based organization whose goal is deterring the number of bad patent assertions in specific technology areas, launched the Blockchain Zone to target NPE activity, or patent trolls, which threaten blockchain and its related technologies.

The success of cryptocurrency depends on developers being able to grow, innovate, and build new products free from the threat of litigation and patent trolls. This partnership will ensure that blockchain technologies are protected from unwarranted and costly assertions by entities trying to leverage the high cost of patent litigation to drive settlements. 

Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, a member of COPA, said, “Patent trolls are barriers in the path of innovation; they hinder the progress of technology and stifle the spirit of creativity, particularly in the fast-evolving world of cryptocurrency. They must be stopped so the community can continue to do the important business of building the crypto-economy.” 

As part of this partnership, COPA members will receive pass-through protection at no cost. 

Steve Lee, Lead at Spiral, a subsidiary of Block and member of COPA, said, “COPA has fought long and hard to reduce barriers to crypto innovation, including its efforts to debunk false IP claims related to Satoshi Nakomoto’s identity, which have plagued the bitcoin community.  Now, we take COPA’s work a step further to protect the crypto community from patent trolls.”

To date, Unified Patents’ Transactions Zone has successfully challenged hundreds of patents that threatened electronic transactions, online bill payments, authentication, and other technologies, ensuring that the Blockchain remains open and free for all, protected from unwarranted assertions. The newly formed Blockchain Zone will do the same.

COPA is joining 300+ other companies committed to deterring the assertion of bad patents by non-practicing entities (NPEs). In 2023, NPEs still accounted for 58% of all patent litigation, similar to a five-year average. Unified Patents is the only entity that deters invalid patent assertions and never pays NPEs.

“We’re happy to partner with COPA to bring our unique solution to the blockchain community,” said Kevin Jakel, founder and CEO of Unified Patents, LLC. “It represents a wonderful opportunity to ensure that the technology remains free to grow businesses, reduce transaction costs, and ensure it won’t be hindered by the all-too-common baseless patent assertions affecting other sectors of the economy.” 

Unified Patents is the only solution designed to deter NPE activity, and, therefore, Unified never pays any money to NPEs, whether to purchase licenses or otherwise. This ensures that Unified never incentivizes further NPE activity.

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