Please describe your proposed solution
The current landscape of intellectual property (IP) management is fraught with challenges. Centralized systems often prove inefficient, opaque, and expensive, particularly for creators in developing nations. Verifying ownership and managing rights can be cumbersome, while the public nature of many blockchain-based solutions like NFTs may not suit all creators' needs.
Our approach will make use of Cardano's inherent strengths – security, scalability, and sustainability – to build the prototype of a decentralized IP registry that prioritizes privacy and creator control. By utilizing privacy preserving technology, Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) / Midnight, we enable creators to securely register and manage their IP rights without the necessity for public disclosure or NFT minting.
This solution directly engages both creators and other IP stakeholders.
Creators:
Artists, musicians, writers, developers, and other content producers across various domains who seek an efficient, private, and secure way to manage their IP.
IP stakeholders:
Legal professionals, licensing agencies, and potential licensees who stand to benefit from a transparent and streamlined IP management system.
We will develop a high-level prototype showcasing the user interface and core functionalities of the system: IP registration, ownership verification, and selective disclosure using privacy preserving technology.
We plan to gather insights from creators and IP stakeholders to refine the solution and ensure it meets real-world needs. Conducting in-depth interviews and surveys with creators from various domains (film, music, etc.) to understand their specific needs and pain points regarding IP management.
This approach allows us to validate the concept, gather valuable feedback, and refine the solution before proceeding to full-scale development and on-chain implementation.
Unique Aspects and Benefits to Cardano
Our solution's uniqueness lies in its combination of decentralization and privacy, leveraging Cardano for a tamper-proof and censorship-resistant IP registry and utilizing privacy preserving technology to enable selective disclosure and private management of IP rights, setting it apart from public NFT-based solutions.
Provides a global platform for creators, regardless of location or resources, to securely manage their IP. Our solution has the potential to be broadly impactful.
This project showcases Cardano’s potential to support real-world use cases beyond just financial applications.