Square establishes non-profit organization COPA to prevent "patent trolls" from infiltrating the cryptocurrency community

The financial services company Square and its founder Jack Dorsey have long been major supporters of cryptocurrency. Today, the company announced the establishment of a non-profit organization called the "Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA)" to safeguard the ideals of openness and decentralization within the crypto community and to ward off external "patent trolls."

Patent Trolls Rampant

Jack Dorsey, the founder of social media platform Twitter and financial services company Square, has long been a supporter of Bitcoin and a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency community. Today, Jack Dorsey took a significant step for the industry's development and well-being. According to a tweet, Square's subsidiary, Square Crypto, is establishing the "Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA)" to combat the increasing threat of "patent trolls" in recent years.

Square is putting all of our crypto patents into a new non-profit org we’re calling the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, which will maintain a shared patent library to help the crypto community defend against patent aggressors and trolls. Join us! #bitcoinhttps://t.co/I9VopgtMz9

— jack (@jack) September 10, 2020

Developers and startups in the blockchain and related applications often embrace ideals of openness and decentralization, making their code freely available to the community (known as open source). However, this also means these developers cannot obtain legal patent protection, leaving them vulnerable to being overtaken by large corporations. Square Crypto points out that the success of cryptocurrency depends on people being able to build what they want, but when every new idea is tied up in patent litigation, this becomes more challenging.

COPA Safeguarding Community Rights

The "Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA)" is a nonprofit organization established to defend the rights of the cryptocurrency community. Square Crypto states that any company within the industry, regardless of whether they hold patents, is eligible to become a member of COPA and collectively protect their interests. Members' code can be used to apply for patents under the COPA name to defend against external patent infringement. However, the code must be made available for free use by members in the COPA patent pool, and COPA and its members cannot assert claims on the patents unless they are threatened externally. Square Crypto urges industry professionals to join COPA to protect the rights and long-term development of the cryptocurrency community:

"There is a growing concern that 'patent lockup' could stifle innovation and adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. To address this issue, the cryptocurrency community must once again do what it does best and come together for the greater good."

There is growing concern that “patent lockup” could stifle innovation and adoption from bitcoin to the most obscure cryptocurrency. In order to tackle this problem, the crypto community will need to once again do what it is so famous for and come together for the greater good.

— Spiral (@spiralbtc) September 10, 2020

Finally, Square Crypto pledges not only to provide funding for COPA's first year of operation but also to lead by example, opening up all its cryptocurrency patents for future use by COPA members.