Hangzhou launches China’s first intellectual property blockchain certification platform

In another example of harnessing blockchain technology in the legal world, the Zhejiang Patent Office launched China’s first intellectual property blockchain certification platform on Thursday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province’s capital city.

Fast facts

• The platform provides users with a blockchain certification after they upload pictures or description documents of their original creation, such as art and literary creations, industrial design products and data assets. The platform will charge a fee for handing out the certification.

• According to the instructions, the deposit certification will be recognized evidence in judicial adjudication, administrative law enforcement, arbitration, and financing.

• As the hometown of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, Hangzhou is at the forefront of blockchain certification adoption in the judicial field. In 2018, the Hangzhou Internet Court became the first to accept blockchain certification as credible judicial evidence.

• Mainland China has widely adopted blockchain to facilitate proceedings. Courts in Jilin, Shandong and the cities of Guangzhou, Chengdu, Quanzhou and Taiyuan as well as three internet courts in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou have all begun using blockchain to preserve evidence.