Post on 22-May-2020
BLOCKCHAIN – Disruption or Hype?
Nigel ClarkeHead of Patent Information ResearchEuropean Patent Office
Vashe KanesarajahDirector, Client AdvocacyDerwent
Ed WhiteDirector, Patent AnalyticsDerwent
A QUICK BRIEFING
WHAT IS “THE” BLOCKCHAIN?
• Transactions are added to the chain as a block of data
• New blocks contain encrypted information concerning the previous block, therefore no block can be changed without changing the entire chain
• All data in the chain is therefore permanently recorded
CAN’T BE CHANGED NO AUTHORITIVE VERSION TRANSPARENT• Versions of the blockchain are
distributed around the cloud• No central version is held to be
authoritative over another• “Hacking” the blockchain would
require changing it in every location
• Anyone can review the entire blockchain
• Makes the blockchain verifiable• Creates an ecosystem where all
actors are aware of the present state of the blockchain, and can add to it
Permanent, Decentralised, Open Record – the “distributed ledger”
WHY WAS IT DEVELOPED? WHAT IS IT FOR?
• To solve a basic issue in digital currency – the “double spending” problem:
How can you prevent the same digital currency token being spent more than once?How do you know how much currency anyone has?How do you know who has spent what, and where it now resides?
• Required a completely secure, un-editable register of transactions that everyone can access – the blockchain
• Created in some mystery – the original developer(s) use the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the original source of the open bitcoin cryptocurrency
• The technology/technique has spawned an entire cryptocurrency industry, with many separate blockchain implementations with different flavours and rules
• Importantly, the principles of the distributed ledger has uses outside of cryptocurrencies…
WHAT DOES THE BLOCKCHAIN PATENT LANDSCAPE LOOK LIKE?
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Background
Material already presented: Yann Menière (Chief Economist) at the EPO’s Blockchain conference in
December 2018, Geert Boedt at Search Matters 8th May 2019 https://www.epo.org/learning-events/events/conferences/search-
matters/programme.html Nigel Clarke (Patent Information Research) PIUG 7th May 2019 https://www.piug.org/an19program
7
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Blockchain patent families
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
1st priority year
1st publication year
1st grant year
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s Blockchain patenting took off in 2015, since then we encounter high publication rates, and steady growth of
granted patents.
Note: 2018 data incomplete (publications until 10/2018), decrease in priority filing in 2018 is due to 18 month time lag until publication.
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Blockchain EPC patent families
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s Similar trend with EPC patent families Almost 4/5 of EPC families include an EP filing
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
1st publication year
1st priority year
1st application year
Note: EPC is a patent family that has at least one filing at EPO or any other of the 38 EPC member states. Not all EP filings are already published for 2017 (or 2018)
without EP filing22%
with EP filing78%
EP filings share (EPC patent families,
1st publication years 2008-2016)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Patent applications per patent authority (2013-2018)
1st publication year*
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s
High growth of Chinese patent applications since 2016. Steady growing rate of Blockchain patent application in US, WO and KR.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
CN
US
WO
EP
KR
Note: Per patent family, only one patent application per patent authority is considered. * 2018 data incomplete (publications until 10/2018)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Patent applications of top 10 applicants (2013-2018)
1st publication year*
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s IBM (US) leads in 2018 followed by COINPLUG (KR) and ALIBABA (CN).
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
IBM (US)
ALIBABA (CN)
COINPLUG (KR)
BOE TECHNOLOGY (CN)
MASTERCARD (US)
BANK OF AMERICA (US)
CHINA UNICOM (CN)
NCHAIN (GB)
VISA (US)
FUZAMEI TECHNOLOGY (CN)
* 2018 data incomplete (publications until 10/2018)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Patent families with granted patents of top 10 applicants (2013-2018)
1st grant year*
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s
High number of patent families with granted patents for Korean company COINPLUG probably due to different granting speeds in the patent systems (KR vs. US or EP)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
COINPLUG
IBM
VISA
MODERNITY FINANCIAL HOLDINGS
GUARDTIME
MASTERCARD
METAPS PLUS
ACCENTURE
PAYPAL
ONECONNECT
* 2018 data incomplete (publications until 10/2018)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Markets & Jurisdictions – Where are Blockchain patents filed?
Distribution of patent applications (patent families counting by 1st publication
year)
Top 5 patent authorities with Blockchain patent applications 2008-2018Patent families counting by 1st publication year
(per family only 1 application per patent authority is counted)
40% of all Blockchain patents are filed in China, EPO is fourth, after US and WO
2417
1232
897
344
276
CN
US
WO
EP
KR
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
CN40%
US20%
WO15%
EP6%
KR4%
AU2%
JP2%
CA2%
IN2%
GB2%
TW2%
BR1%
DE1%
SG1%
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Geographical origins (whole dataset, 4096 patent families)
21981089
221
104
72
55
45
41
26
26
Most patent families have their origin in US and China (first priority filings)
CN 2198US 1089KR 221GB 104WO 104EP 73JP 72TW 55AU 45DE 41FR 26IN 26ZA 6BE 4CA 4UA 4RU 3CZ 2ES 2IL 2IT 2LU 2PH 2SG 2BR 1EA 1HK 1HU 1NL 1SE 1
Mapamundi with priority country filings of all patents of the dataset
Europe = 259 (EP + EPC)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Geographical origins (WO patent applications, 897 patent families)
450
Most WO patent applications have their origin in US (first priority filings) followed by Europe
US 450CN 92WO 91GB 68KR 56EP 44DE 29JP 19AU 14IN 10FR 7ZA 4LU 2UA 2BE 1CA 1ES 1HU 1NL 1RU 1SE 1SG 1
Mapamundi with priority country filings of WO patents
92
68
56
29
Europe = 155 (EP + EPC)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Geographical origins (EP applications, 344 patent families)
171
Most EP patent applications have their origin in US (first priority filings)
US 171EP 59GB 23WO 20DE 15FR 12CN 10JP 8KR 6AU 4IN 4IT 2CZ 1ES 1HK 1HU 1IL 1NL 1SE 1SG 1ZA 1
Mapamundi with priority country filings of WO patents (numbering +10 patent families, without EP and WO patents)
23
10
1512
Europe = 116 (EP + EPC)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Blockchain WO applications and the EPO*
EPO is the preferred International Search Authority for PCT search reports:
EPO is the second most selected PCT receiving office:
EP32%
US27%
KR20%
CN5%
Other
More than a third have an EP member in the family:
US50%
EP13%
Direct filing (IB)10%
KR6%
CN5%
Other
* 1st publication years 2008-2016. For recent PCT applications EP members cannot yet be identified
No EP member in family; 90; 63%
EP member in family; 177; 66%
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Geographical origins of patent families (IP3 and IP5 patent families)
Note: Top 10 authorities (first priority country of international patent families IP3 and IP5)
Most IP5 and IP3 patent families have chosen EP as priority office after US
17
4
3
1
112
15
10
9
9
9
9
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
US
EP
WO
GB
JP
CN
KR
IP5 (US, EP, JP, CN, KR) IP3 (Any three out of US, EP, JP, CN, KR)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Top Applicants (Worldwide, EP)
Top applicants EPTop applicants worldwide
Top 10 applicants by patent families
EP Applicants Patent families
VISA (US) 16
MASTERCARD (US) 14
SIEMENS (DE) 12
ACCENTURE (IE) 10
NOKIA (FI) 9
NCHAIN (GB) 7
SONY (JP) 7
BT (GB) 6
GEMALTO (NL) 6
NEC (JP) 6
Worldwide Applicants Patent families
IBM (US) 111
ALIBABA (CN) 88
COINPLUG (KR) 88
BOE TECHNOLOGY (CN) 61
MASTERCARD (US) 51
BANK OF AMERICA (US) 46
CHINA UNICOM (CN) 46
NCHAIN (GB) 45
VISA (US) 41
FUZAMEI TECHNOLOGY (CN) 36
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Top Inventors (Worldwide, EP)
Inventor Patent families Affiliation*
FALK RAINER 11 SIEMENS (DE)
DAVIS STEVEN CHARLES 7 MASTERCARD (US)
DANIEL JOSHUA 6 BT (GB)
DUCATEL GERY 6 BT (GB)
GIORDANO GIUSEPPE 6 ACCENTURE (IE)
SAVANAH STEPHANE 6 NCHAIN (UK)
WRIGHT CRAIG STEVEN 6 NCHAIN (UK)
BULDAS AHTO 5 GUARDTIME (UK)
STÖCKER CARSTEN 5 INNOGY INNOVATION (DE)
VIALE EMMANUEL 5 ACCENTURE (IE)
Top inventors EPTop inventors worldwide
Inventor Patent families Affiliation*
HONG JAY WU 88 COINPLUG (KR)
UHR JOON SUN 85 COINPLUG (KR)
SONG JOO HAN 66 COINPLUG (KR)
TAN ZHIYONG 52BEIJING EUROPE CHAIN TECHNOLOGY
(CN) / BEIJING RUI ZHUO XITONG TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (CN)
LIU XIN 49 SHENZHEN GOLO CHELIAN DATA TECHNOLOGY (CN)
LIU JUN 39 SHENZHEN GOLO CHELIAN DATA TECHNOLOGY (CN)
ZHANG YONG 38 BEIJING RUI ZHUO XITONG TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (CN)
WU SIJIN 36 FUZAMEI TECHNOLOGY (CN)
HUANG BUTIAN 33 YUNPHANT (CN)
LU CHENGYE 31 CHINA CHAIN TECHNOLOGY (CN)
*Inventors company affiliation by the time of the patent filing (may have changed over the time)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Top patents
Top patents by citations received
YEAR* APPLICANT TITLE & NUMBER CITATIONS ** LEGAL STATUS
2014 NANTWORKS (US)
Healthcare transaction validation via blockchain proof-of-work,
systems and methods(US20150332283)
74 Applied but not yet granted
2014 BLOCKTECH (US)
System and method for securely receiving and counting votes in an
election(US9836908)
63 Granted (US)
2015 TORONTO DOMINION BANK (CA)
Document tracking on a distributed ledger
(US20170048216)46 Applied but not
yet granted
2014 MODERNITY FINANCIAL (TW)
Data analytic and security mechanism for implementing a hot
wallet service(US9672499)
44 Granted (US)
2012 ENT TECHNOLOGIES (US)
Generalized entity network translation (GENT)
(US9876775)41 Granted (US)
*First priority year ** Citations received, patent family counting
Top patents by family size
YEAR* APPLICANT TITLE & NUMBER FAMILY MEMBERS
LEGAL STATUS
2016 NCHAIN (UK)Registry and automated management method for
blockchain-enforced smart contracts(EP3257191)
12 Granted(EP)
2016 BLACK GOLD COIN (US)
Systems and methods for providing block chain-based multifactor personal identity verification
(US9985964)11 Granted
(US, AU)
2016 NCHAIN (UK)
Determining a common secret for the secure exchange of information and hierarchical,
deterministic cryptographic keys (EP3364598)
11 Granted (EP)
2016 NCHAIN (UK)
Secure multiparty loss resistant storage and transfer of cryptographic keys for blockchain
based systems in conjunction with a wallet management system
(EP3259724)
11
Applied but not
yet granted
2015 MASTERCARD (US)
Method and system for integration of market exchange and issuer processing for blockchain-
based transactions(EP3298550)
10 Granted(US)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study 22
Technology fields (main CPC, group level)
Patent families by Top 10 Main CPC groups
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Payment architectures, schemes or protocols (G06Q-020)
Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication (H04L-009)
Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security (H04L-063)
Security arrangements for protecting computers (G06F-021)
Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies (G06Q-040)
Commerce, e.g. shopping or e-commerce (G06Q-030)
Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods (G06F-017)
Data processing systems or methods - Administration; Management (G06Q-010)
Network-specific arrangements or communication protocols supporting networked applications (H04L-067)
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study 23
Top players by Technology fields
Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
Applicant Patent families
COINPLUG (KR) 43
MASTERCARD (US) 29
BANK OF AMERICA (US) 27
VISA (US) 22
IBM (US) 20
Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or
secure communication
Applicant Patent families
NCHAIN (GB) 20
IBM (US) 14
VISA (US) 14
COINPLUG (KR) 13
GUARDTIME (GB) 9
Network architectures or network communication protocols for network
security
Applicant Patent familiesTONGFUDUN TECHNOLOGY (CN) 13
BANK OF AMERICA (US) 11
IBM (US) 10
ALIBABA (CN) 8
ACCENTURE (IE) 6
Security arrangements for protecting computers
Applicant Patent families
COINPLUG (KR) 13
BUNDESDRUCKEREI (DE) 9
ALIBABA (CN) 8
BT (GB) 7
ERICSSON (SE) 5
Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies
Applicant Patent familiesFUZAMEI TECHNOLOGY (CN) 12
COINPLUG (KR) 8
IBM (US) 8
BOE TECHNOLOGY (CN) 4
FACTOM (US) 4
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study 24
Patent citation - Who is influencing whom?
Node map is limited to Blockchain applicants with min. 10 patent families and min. 4 citations
Green circle =total Blockchain patent portfolio of the applicant (families)Arrow = Arrow and number indicates how many patents cite the applicant where the arrow is directed at
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Blockchain – Evolution 2018
First publication date
126133
177163
200
242 247
226
349
334
8288
8289
109
133
162
127
269
224
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
January February March April May June July August September October
Earliest publication date (ALL)
Earliest publication date (CN)
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
IP3 and IP5 patent families by 1st publication year
1st publication year
Cou
nt o
f pat
ent f
amilie
s
7
12
18
12 12
8
21
34
52
10
34
5
12
13
6
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
IP3
IP5
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Blockchain – WO applications
Top 10 authorities (first priority country of WO application)
WO Applicants Patent families
NCHAIN (GB) 44
MASTERCARD (US) 43
COINPLUG (KR) 36
VISA (US) 35
WALMART (US) 24
ALIBABA (CN) 23
NOKIA (FI) 23
CLOUDMINDS (CN) 18
NEC (JP) 17
INTEL (US) 16
Top 10 WO applicants
Most Blockchain related WO applications have first filings (priority) in the US
450
92
91
68
56
44
29
19
14
10
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
US
CN
WO
GB
KR
EP
DE
JP
AU
IN
European Patent Office – Blockchain patent landscape study
Blockchain – EP applications
Top 10 authorities (first priority country of EP application)
EP Applicants Patent families
VISA (US) 16
MASTERCARD (US) 14
SIEMENS (DE) 12
ACCENTURE (IE) 10
NOKIA (FI) 9
NCHAIN (GB) 7
SONY (JP) 7
BT (GB) 6
GEMALTO (NL) 6
NEC (JP) 6
Top 10 EP applicants
Most Blockchain related EP applications have first filings (priority) in the US0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
US
EP
GB
WO
DE
FR
CN
JP
KR
AU
RECENT EVENTS – in the midst of a bubble?
60% of Blockchain/Distributed Ledger inventions have published in the last
300 days
Since November, 44 new blockchain inventions published per working day
Approx. 200 new entrants per month since November
Source: Derwent World Patents Index™; generic Blockchain, Distributed Ledger search string
WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN BEING USED FOR?• Killer application is Financial Technology –
using traditional currencies for payments and transactions
• Cryptocurrencies is now a subset of fintech
• Other mentioned uses of blockchain technology:
• Contract management• Gaming – likely an offshoot of mobile
payment tech• Social networking – e.g. privacy issues• Healthcare – for example prescription
management; currently a small field
• Much (most?) of blockchain not specific to an industry or use
Fintech
Contracts
Mobile Gaming
Healthcare
Source: Derwent World Patents Index™ “Use” field; ThemeScape application
Your Questionsvasheharan.kanesarajah@clarivate.com
ed.white@clarivate.com
nclarke@epo.org
derwent.com