On January 5, 2024, DEF filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeking inter partes review (IPR) and cancellation of all claims in a patent owned by True Return Systems LLC, a patent troll that first tried to sell the patent as an NFT, and later sued “MakerDAO” and “Compound Protocol” for alleged infringement of U.S. Patent No. 10,025,797. The patent, issued in 2018, claimed to invent a process for bringing off-chain data on-chain, including the use of oracles—technology that predated the patent. DEF argued that the patent was invalid because it attempted to monopolize established technology.
Ultimately, DEF proved the patent’s lack of originality, acquired the patent, and dedicated it to the public to protect developers and the DeFi ecosystem.
Status: DEF Victory
Click here to read the Declaration of Hudson Jameson, and here for high-level information on what this all means and why we chose to get involved.