The Washington DC-based Chamber of Digital Commerce has formed the Blockchain Intellectual Property Council (BIPC). The initiative’s stated plan is to help balance the protection of proprietary information with the openness necessary for innovation.

More than forty institutions have already committed to the council, including Blockstream, Bloq, Civic, Cognizant, Deloitte, Digital Currency Group, Ernst & Young, Gem, Medici Ventures, Microsoft, T0.com, TMX and Wipfli.

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“Developing an industry-led defensive patent strategy is paramount to help protect innovation and drive wide adoption of blockchain-enabled technologies,” said Perianne Boring, founder and President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

The Blockchain Intellectual Property Council will be chaired by Marc Kaufman, Partner at Rimon Law; Patrick Murck, Special Counsel, Cooley & Fellow at Berkman Klein Center at Harvard; and James Murdock, Chief Business Officer and General Counsel at Blockstream.

“I am honored to help shape one of the most important discussions for the blockchain community,” said Kaufman. “Many players are aggressively pursuing patents in the DLT space, and managing patent risk must be a shared priority.”

“Balancing the open source mindset with proprietary technology is an early and critical challenge faced by the blockchain community,” commented Murck. “An effective solution must be constructed with input from experts in both law and technology – with an eye to preserving opportunities for permissionless innovation.”

“Openness and collaboration are crucial to ensuring that permissionless innovation both thrives and evolves,” added Murdock. “Preserving these elements as the industry develops will be key to the success of the blockchain ecosystem.”