Impact of blockchain and distributed ledger technology for the management, protection, enforcement and monetization of intellectual property: a systematic literature review

In an increasingly global, connected, and digital world, the management, protection, enforcement and monetization of intellectual property has never been so challenging and critical at the same time. Challenging because intellectual property, especially in a digital form, can be easily copied, deployed, stolen or misappropriated. Critical because nowadays intellectual property is everywhere, it is present in all areas of economic activities, it enables companies to create competitive moat and its attached monetary value is material. Knowledge should also be openly available; therefore, intellectual property law is basically about finding the right balance between authors´ interests (protection, enforcement, monetization) and users' interests (usage, access). Blockchain and its underlying technology of distributed ledgers has the potential to disrupt the way intellectual properties are managed, protected and monetized. Where the access and distribution of content has been revolutionized by the internet, distributed ledger technology might offer an alternative path helping intellectual property law enter the digital age and address its original intent which is at its core to protect and reward creators, enable open access to knowledge in order to foster innovation. In this paper we conduct a PRISMA guided systematic literature review of 176 scientific publications in the field of blockchain-based management of intellectual property. We use a PESTEL framework to investigate the benefits as well as the limitations of using distributed ledger technology to manage intellectual property. Additionally, we provide recommendations on how the identified challenges can be addressed, as well as future research directions.