The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) won what it described as a “sweeping victory” in its case against Ooki DAO, in which the CFTC alleged that the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) operated an illegal...more
Blockchain had a challenging year but continues to grow as a technology with broad applicability. Here, we update our previous article on the state of blockchain patents and patent litigation with an overview of the landscape...more
Certain decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are currently named as defendants in different court cases. However, the patent infringement cases in which True Return asserts that MakerDAO and Compound Protocol...more
Despite the ongoing “Crypto Winter,” the use of NFTs continues to rise. NFTs are associated most often with pictures, videos, and music, but developers have been finding many new and useful applications for them. As the...more
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a popular way to organize technical projects. They perform significant work in multiple areas, especially developing crypto financial software systems. As such, they may one...more
On Dec. 8, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporate Finance (the Division) posted a sample comment letter (the Letter) on its website that provides guidance to public companies regarding the...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) has been accused of “regulation by enforcement” when it comes to the standard for determining whether a crypto token is a security. Part of this stems from the fact...more
11/15/2022
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptoassets ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Digital Assets ,
Howey ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
New Guidance ,
No-Action Letters ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Token Sales
In a new development, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) has charged that “voting members” of the Ooki DAO are liable for its violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations by...more
The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, issued his starkest warning yet to those in the crypto industry issuing tokens, at the SEC Speaks event. Gensler stated his belief that of crypto...more
The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) is a prominent (and possibly the only) defensive Crypto patent alliance. COPA advertises that it was “formed to encourage the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency technologies and...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept up with their plan to increase enforcement on the sale of crypto assets in filing a complaint against Dragonchain for engaging in an unlawful offer and sale of securities in...more
“Blockchains” have been hyped as the most important technological revolution since the internet. As of the writing of this article, cryptocurrencies and NFTs are valued at over $1 trillion, despite the continued volatility in...more
As we noted in our post last year on the state of blockchain patent litigation, thousands of blockchain-related patent applications are being filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Continuing our analysis of the...more
The House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 5796, a bill titled “Patents for Humanity Act of 2021,” which would set a timeline for a competition that has been periodically held by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...more
After reviewing the First District court case on 35 U.S.C. 101 for a blockchain patent, we wanted to check in and see how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has been handling blockchain-related patent applications. In...more
We have an update to our previous article, as the court in Rady v. Boston Consulting Group, LLC found that a patent directed to blockchain technology covered patent ineligible subject matter under the Alice test for 35 U.S.C....more
Blockchain has the potential to be the new frontier of innovation and a disruptor of existing technologies, and with this, has the potential for significant patent litigation. The technology now commonly known as “blockchain”...more