Court Recording Company Wins Blockchain Patent To Protect Integrity Of Court Records

A court recording service has been granted a blockchain patent for verifying recordings, according to a recent announcement.

The company, For The Record, manages the capture, production and delivery of court recordings destined for the official court record. Their services are utilized in 62 countries and make up 60% of the digital court recordings market. Court recordings are public records allowing journalists, regulators and lawyers to access whenever necessary. 

On Monday, August 3 For The Record announced that the company will begin using blockchain technology to protect against file manipulation or false files.

"All levels of justice will need safeguards in place to ensure the integrity of original source recordings and blockchain provides a unique ability to immediately identify if recordings have been altered," Tony Douglass, President of For The Record, said in a statement.

Today, technology to manipulate audio recordings has become widely available and just about anybody has the ability to successfully doctor recordings. In June, an English woman edited an audio recording of her husband to make it sound like he was making threats in order to win a custody battle. She used simple software downloaded from the internet and watched online tutorials. Given the ease of manipulating audio recordings, For The Record has taken a step to protect public records by utilizing blockchain technology.

China is currently the leader in blockchain patents with 790 filed in 2019 while the United States comes in a close second place with 760, however blockchain patent applications are rising globally as the use cases for the technology expand. Blockchain patent applicants are mainly mega tech companies like IBM, Mastercard or China-based Alibaba.

For The Record’s patent may signal that smaller companies may start turning to blockchain to improve their systems, a step which could help move the technology into the mainstream. Douglass added to his statement that he hopes the company will soon partner with both justice and government agencies to ensure verifiable and immutable court recordings using blockchain technology.

By Emily Mason

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