As the dawning of a new era rises to greet the intrepid pioneers of the bitcoin and blockchain sphere, a spectre looms in the horizon. This spectre is marked by an assortment of patent trolls, copyright infringers, plagiarists and groups that use the trademarks of legitimate companies built around bitcoin and blockchain technology. Without going into specifics, imagine a fledgling startup that’s actually building code only to have its name taken and used by some parties to launch their own Initial Coin Offering. Using the good graces of a well known name, the violating party then manages to raise a few hundred million dollars. The coders and the entrepreneurs who legitimately built the code get nothing in return.

This problem has been endemic in the past and relatively short history of software and hardware development. Companies wage patent wars with patent trolls with costs rising up to the millions of dollars. Who could forget the $2 billion dollar Apple lawsuit paid to Nokia as part of a settlement agreement? It happened just last July 2017. Apple currently has a market capitalization of $887.95 billion dollars. The market capitalization for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is now at $462 billion dollars. The space is bound to attract all sorts of opportunists.

This course aims to provide an insight to the patents filed in relation to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Ethereum technology. If you’re a Cryptocurrency or Blockchain startup company, hopefully you will gain some knowledge that will spur you to take the right defensive or legal action.