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Meta, previously Facebook, joined COPA-Crypto Open Patent Alliance-and joined 30 other organizations in promising to make their core cryptocurrency patents available to all.
Members of COPA agree not to enforce their core crypto patents and make their core patents part of a collective library.
Max Sills, the general manager of COPA, explains that a core cryptocurrency patent refers to “technology that allows the creation, mining, storage, transmission, settlement, integrity or security or cryptocurrencies.”
COPA’s goal is to encourage further innovation in the field of #blockchain technology. With all of these organizations forming an alliance, the risk of patent litigation is far lower. Less litigation risk means more creativity and blockchain start-ups without fear of being shutdown with patent owners trying to strong arm businesses under the threat that their patent may extend coverage over a use case on which a business is focused.
When patents are strictly enforced, this hampers competition, and as Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, has pointed out before, it only serves the needs of the powerful. Smaller organizations or tech-savvy individuals may not have the funds to fight patent litigation. Dorsey tweeted out his support of Meta joining COPA.
Meta’s membership to COPA comes not long after the shutdown of Meta’s Diem project. It is reported Meta will be selling the project to Silvergate Bank for $200 million. Meta still owns a digital wallet company, Novi.
The more organizations that decide to join COPA, the less likely that the community will need to fight bad actors. These bad actors have been attempting to land copyrights or patents on blockchain-facing technologies in an attempt to squeeze major players in the industry or exert undue influence.
As more big names in tech show their support for COPA, many hope this problem will be stamped out and open-sourced innovation will continue to flourish.
