Malikie Innovations, which acquired tens of thousands of patents from the former BlackBerry phone maker in 2023, is suing major miners Marathon Digital and Core Scientific over their use of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). The plaintiff claims that it alone has rights to the technology.
The case centers on groundbreaking innovations in elliptic curve cryptography that were recognized and adopted by Bitcoin developers years later, the case filing says.
Aaron Brogan, founder and managing partner of the law firm Brogan Law, believes it is unlikely that such lawsuits will affect most individual miners, even if the lawsuit is successful.
Mining companies will always attract attention in court because they have money, and the patent board can try to sue them for it, he said.
If Malikie Innovations is successful, it could recover six years of lost royalties. The amount that would amount to is difficult to calculate.
Such cases often result in a retrial, but it is safe to assume that the amount will be large and could bankrupt the defendants, Brogan said.
