Story Protocol: A New Paradigm for Reshaping Intellectual Property Management

With the development of the times, intellectual property (IP) has become an important asset class, covering a wide range of fields from software code, artistic works to scientific inventions. The global intellectual property market was valued at approximately $180 billion in 2020, and is expected to grow at an average annual compound growth rate of about 8.5% in the coming years.

Despite the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, businesses and individuals are still actively promoting innovation and expanding their operations through intellectual property tools. In 2020, the global number of patent applications exceeded 3.27 million, a 1.6% increase compared to 2019. The number of trademark applications saw a significant rise, reaching approximately 17.1 million, with a growth rate of 13.7%. Asia has been particularly active in intellectual property activities, accounting for 64% of the total global patent applications.

However, as the IP market continues to grow, the complexity of IP management is also increasing. Traditional IP management models rely on centralized legal systems and manual verification, which appear inefficient and difficult to adapt in the era of rapid digital development. At the same time, traditional IP management faces issues such as easy infringement, difficulty in authorization, and low transparency. The laws regarding IP vary between different countries and regions, making it challenging to protect the rights of IP owners.

Against this backdrop, the Story project has emerged. As a revolutionary IP management platform based on blockchain technology, Story is dedicated to fundamentally changing the way narratives are created. Its core mission is to unlock a completely new way to create, manage, and license intellectual property on the chain, thus forming a "story legos" ecosystem that can be remixed and recombined.

Story Protocol supports the entire lifecycle from IP creation, management to authorization. This framework includes features such as source tracking, frictionless licensing, and revenue sharing, allowing creators to create more freely and benefit from it. Additionally, the platform allows anyone to contribute to and remix existing creations, ensuring that the value of these contributions can be captured and distributed.

The core of the Story project includes three key components: Story Network, Proof-of-Creativity protocol, and programmable IP licenses.

Story Network is a universal Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed for efficiently handling complex data structures, particularly those related to intellectual property. This network is based on a combination of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Cosmos SDK, leveraging the strengths of both to achieve high performance and flexibility for IP operations.

The Proof-of-Creativity protocol is one of the cores of Story Network, providing fundamental support for the digitalization and automated management of IP. By being natively integrated into Story Network, this protocol enables permissionless licensing, automatic royalty payments, and other functions, offering a new decentralized method of intellectual property management for creators and businesses worldwide.

Programmable IP License ( PIL ) is another core innovation of Story Network, enabling intellectual property to be introduced onto the blockchain, bringing on-chain liquidity and programmability to a trillion-dollar asset class. PIL is a universal license protocol that allows IP owners to set rules for the use of their intellectual property. Through PIL, creators can easily establish the terms of use for their works without the need for complex legal procedures.

The Story project has attracted multiple applications. For example, Magma is a multi-user online design tool suite that supports over 2 million users, allowing creatives to collaborate in real time. Through Story's tokenized IP program, creatives can easily register their works as IP assets and set usage terms through PIL. Another example is Mahojin, which focuses on the IP tokenization of AI training data, models, and outputs. Data owners can register their datasets as IP assets on Story and set licensing terms.

Overall, the Story project has performed well in terms of financing, technology, and implementation, but the IP market is still immature and requires time to be tested. With the continuous development of the digital economy, the Story protocol is expected to play an increasingly important role in the field of intellectual property management, providing creators and businesses with more efficient, transparent, and flexible IP management solutions.