November 18, 2017, St. Petersburg, Russia,
This year’s VI Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum might hold a surprise for the future, an intellectual property blockchain, Musicoin, operating with a national market. This possibility was raised at the culmination of the business panel, “Creating Globally Applicable Best Practices in Blockchain Technology in Russia for IP Management: From Patents and Inventions to Books, Paintings, Photos, Music and Films.”
The hour-long panel was held by IPChain (the National Coordination Center for Processing Transactions with Rights and Objects of Intellectual Property), whose ambitious task is the formation of a national blockchain-based network of Russian intellectual property objects, their associated rights, transaction records, and the facilitation of such transactions.
“The creation of a decentralized IPChain network is a necessary and indispensable stage in the development of the national intellectual property sphere,” said Andrey Krichevsky, president of IPChain. “However, when speaking about practical steps, it is important to remember that, despite the seminal nature of today’s steps to reform the sphere, we must constantly be on the move. After all, the trend of the current day – blockchain – will be replaced by newer and newer technologies and solutions. Our task is to monitor the strategic vector of global development, to foresee and anticipate technological shifts. ”
In that context, panelists who contributed their solutions and viewpoints were: The Unified State System for Accounting for Research, Development and Technological Works of Civil Purpose (the state service is already one of the key components of the IPChain infrastructure), The National Register of Intellectual Property, which participates in a project initiated by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation to create a system for storing and comparing three-dimensional models, and FormMax, a business to business solution for delivering background music,
The participants also included a number of services that could potentially use the IPChain infrastructure such as IP EXCHANGE (IPEX), an online platform that ensures the regular functioning of the organized market of intellectual property, artists societies worldwide, and the world’s first music streaming blockchain service, Musicoin.
Though intellectual property forums tend to be sedate, this panel had its share of barely suppressed fireworks. Ivan Zasurskiy, Head of the Department of New Media and Communication Theory, Journalism Faculty of Moscow State University, referred to lawyers in the field as leeches, attorney Pavel Katkov wondered aloud if blockchain smart contracts might relegate lawyers to a secondary role in intellectual property management, and Joel Bevacqua, the ambassador for the Musicoin blockchain pointed out to the younger members of the audience that the panel they were witnessing might one day be a watershed moment in their lives.
The Russian Federation’s IPChain ended the panel with another sign that Russia intends to be a world leader in blockchain technology, as official signing agreements on strategic cooperation took place. IPChain and the largest company in the market of licensed electronic books in Russia, LitRes, signed an agreement on cooperation and interaction, and then IPChain and BankPrav.ru service – “AyBi” LLC, signed an agreement on establishing partnership relations and developing long-term mutually beneficial cooperation for the registration and monetization of intellectual property and increasing the transparency of intellectual property transactions for all market participants.
At the very end came the surprise, as IPChain’s head Andrey Krichevsky, announced IPChain’s intention to open discussions with SOCAN and Musicoin on possible cooperation pacts. Musicoin’s ambassador, Joel Bevacqua, was seen giving a “thumbs up” to the audience. How this plays out, the world will have to see, but the announcement could signify another significant step for music fans and artists not just in Russia, but the world.