Blockai is committed to using blockchain technology to protect artists' intellectual property

Rage Comment : The immutable nature of blockchain can make intellectual property protection simpler and more cost-effective. Through a fully automatic method, everyone can quickly register and file any data information. This may completely change the current global intellectual property protection pattern, because just like when the marginal cost of software replication is close to zero, it means that it will be completely different from the distribution of traditional products. When the cost of intellectual property registration is close to zero, an unprecedentedly large micro-intellectual property trading market may be born. At present, the law may be one of the main bottlenecks, but it can be confirmed that data fingerprints should soon have the same legal effect as biological fingerprints.

Translation: Annie Xu

Currently, most explorations of blockchain are centered around the financial industry, but a startup called Blockai is committed to exploring new areas, helping artists, photographers, and other art workers register the copyright of their works on the blockchain to prevent infringement.

CEO Nathan Lands believes that this is a method between registering copyright with the Library of Congress and doing nothing. Technically, any work can be registered for copyright once it is completed. However, if you want to sue someone for infringement, you must first register an account.

Nathan Lands said that in an interview with writers in the San Francisco Bay Area, only 10% of them registered their copyrights with the Library of Congress, and the rest felt that it was not necessary to register. Therefore, Blockai aims to provide a public database registration method that is superior to the time-consuming and costly formal registration, that is, registering copyrights on the blockchain to prove copyright.

On the Blockai platform, you only need to drag and drop the mouse to register your work and obtain the corresponding copyright certificate. If someone copies your work without permission, you can send him a copyright certificate to warn him.

So, is this method legally binding? Nathan Lands said it is not yet legally binding, but:

“We believe that the record that Blockai creates on the blockchain will be accepted as sufficient evidence in court. Moreover, it is entirely possible that you don’t even have to go to court because submitting a certificate is much more serious than an Instagram picture.”

“Blockchain is a perfect solution for providing proof of ownership. That is, once a record is created, it is permanent and cannot be changed.”

When asked about enforcement, Nathan Lands mentioned that DRM would restrict the distribution of works across media. Apparently, his experience in the gaming industry has convinced him that "strict DRM is not the right solution, and it is not applicable to image copyright management at all."

"The ideal system in the future would be to use a global database to prove copyright and collect copyright fees. People can then use the simplest method to achieve the best results."

At least Blockai is working towards that goal. The startup has raised $547,000 from investors including Scott, Cyan Banister (and its AngelList syndicate), Social Starts, Sterling VC, Vectr Ventures, Brian Cartmell and Ramen Underground.