Category Archives: Blockchain

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Considering Blockchain In The Electricity Industry

James GattoMark SundbackKenneth WisemanAndrew MinaMark PatrickWilliam RappoltBy James Gatto, Mark Sundback, Kenneth Wiseman, Andrew Mina, Mark Patrick and William Rappolt on Posted in Blockchain, Regulatory
A version of this article originally appeared on Law360 on November 7, 2018. Blockchain technology and smart contracts have the potential to become major disrupters in the energy industry. For example, these technologies may accelerate the automation of some or all aspects of the electricity delivery transaction chain and allow for more decentralized, efficient electricity … Continue Reading

Crypto Firms Make Inroads with State and Federal Regulators

Jeff KernChristopher BoschBy Jeff Kern and Christopher Bosch on Posted in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Regulatory
Over the past couple of years, the crypto industry has come under heavy scrutiny from skeptical regulators seeking to root out fraud and protect investors amid the initial coin offering boom that generated over $4 billion in 2017. However, this skepticism is starting to give way to a more business-friendly attitude. Crypto firms have made … Continue Reading

10 Things to Know About The Intersection of Blockchain Technology, Open Source Software, and Patents

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain, Open Source, Patents
On their own, blockchain technology, open source software, and patents each present legal issues that are often complex and frequently misunderstood. When combined, the complexity and misunderstandings of these three topics are magnified. This set of issues is important now because blockchain technology is on the verge of mainstream commercialization and much of it relies … Continue Reading

Blockchain. Bringing A Chorus of Cheers to the Music Industry

James GattoAlexandra BearSidney FohrmanBy James Gatto, Alexandra Bear and Sidney Fohrman on Posted in Blockchain
Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that has great potential to solve many of the fundamental challenges facing the music industry today. Blockchain technology including distributed, decentralized ledgers, smart contracts, and the ability to tokenize digital assets, is uniquely suited to address issues such as rights management, licensing, copyright ownership, royalty tracking and reporting and the … Continue Reading

The Blockchain-based Supply Chain Adoption Tipping Point?

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain, Patents, Supply chain
Blockchain has long been touted as having transformational potential. Yet, the commercial adoption has been slow. As with any cutting-edge technology, commercial adoption usually requires some tipping point. For adoption of blockchain-based supply chain, the tipping point may just have occurred. According to a recent article, starting in September 2019, Walmart and its Sam’s Club … Continue Reading

10 FAQs About Blockchain and Life Sciences

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain
Blockchain is a rapidly emerging technology and has the potential to bring transformative changes to many industries. As more companies become aware of and study this technology, many questions arise. These questions relate to what blockchain technology is, how it works and what about it is so different. Blockchain is often associated with the financial services … Continue Reading

SEC Blockchain and Crypto Update

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, SEC
The SEC has been busy over the past couple of weeks addressing blockchain and crypto-related issues. ETF Activity The SEC rejected, for a second time, a request by the Winklevoss brothers for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. The primary reason given by the SEC was that the submission did not sufficiently explain how the ETF would … Continue Reading

New York’s AG Enters the Cryptocurrency Ring as Federal, State Authorities Find Regulatory Footing

Jeff KernChristopher BoschBy Jeff Kern and Christopher Bosch on Posted in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Regulatory
On April 17, 2018, the New York State Attorney General (“NYAG”) sent a “Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative Questionnaire” to 13 companies operating virtual currency trading platforms. The questionnaire consists of 34 questions covering a number of topics, including ownership and control, operation and fees, trading policies and procedures, outages and other suspensions of trading, internal … Continue Reading

Drafting Effective Blockchain Patents

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain, Patents
As the number of blockchain-based patents and patent applications increases, more companies have become interested in pursuing these patents. Other companies still think that blockchain-based inventions are not patentable. To help sort fact from fiction, we have prepared a paper to provide an update on blockchain patents, provide guidance on the types of blockchain inventions … Continue Reading

Issues to be Considered in Launching an Offering Involving Digital Instruments Based upon the Use of Blockchain

Law of the LedgerBy Sheppard Mullin on Posted in Blockchain, Initial Coin Offerings, SEC
Read the full article here, authored by Richard A. Friedman and Andrea Cataneo. An excerpt: “When considering an offering of digital instruments that involves the use of blockchain technology, whether in the form of tokens, coins or otherwise, there are a number of issues that need to be considered. Much   has been written and said … Continue Reading

How Blockchain Can Impact Healthcare

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain
Blockchain technology is finding its way into every industry. Healthcare is no exception. According to a recent report by Deloitte, “blockchain technology has the potential to transform health care, placing the patient at the center of the health care ecosystem and increasing the security, privacy, and interoperability of health data.” Some of the proposed applications … Continue Reading

10 Things to Know About Blockchain for the Transportation Industry

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain
Read the full article here. An excerpt: “According to a recent article proponents of blockchain technology have identified a wide variety of potential applications that would benefit the providers and commercial users of transportation and logistics services, such as: Foiling Imposter Carriers. Shippers sometimes fall victim to schemes whereby a fraudster masquerades as a legitimate … Continue Reading

Patent Strategies for Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology

James GattoBy James Gatto on Posted in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Patents
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are rapidly emerging as disruptive technologies. As has happened with many new technologies, particularly disruptive ones, a patent arms race is occurring. The number of patents being filed for these technologies is rapidly increasing. The number of published applications shows roughly a tenfold increase over the number of issued patents. Despite … Continue Reading

The “Blockchain Amendments” to the Delaware General Corporation Law

John HempillBy John Hempill on Posted in Blockchain, Legislation
Two amendments have been proposed to the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) to permit corporate record keeping utilizing blockchain databases (the “Blockchain Amendments”). Specifically, “stock ledger” is to be defined in Section 219 of the DGCL to include ledgers “administered by or on behalf of the corporation,” in order to permit a record keeping … Continue Reading
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