Impact of blockchain and distributed ledger technology for the management of the intellectual property life cycle: A multiple case study analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how blockchain and in general distributed. ledger technology can help to solve intellectual property challenges of today ` s era of digitization. We investigate business ventures leveraging blockchain technology to manage the intellectual property life cycle, in other words how intellectual properties are created, protected, managed and monetized. Our research method is a multiple case study examining a total of 120 use cases. across all primary types of intellectual properties including copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, industrial design and geographical indications. The empirical validation is based on an in-depth within-case analysis of 26 applications which were selected from the initial 120 cases based on business maturity and popularity criteria. Our goal is to understand which intellectual property challenges distributed ledger technology is trying to solve and how. We also investigate which blockchain benefits, in terms of tech-nological security, immutability, decentralization, tokenization or disintermediation are promoted by these applications. We triangulate our case study results using a PESTEL coding framework to better understand how the blockchain ecosystem manages the intellectual property life cycle and to provide scholarly researchers and practitioners with insights on how enterprises can use distributed ledger technology to enhance the management of the intellectual property value chain. Moreover, we validate theoretical findings through the evidence collected from our multiple case study analysis, and finally we provide strategic guidance in investigating the current and anticipated challenges of blockchain entrepreneurs to drive further distributed ledger innovation.