On the question of collective liability in innovation and creativity networks deploying blockchains–A discussion concerning joint liability for the unauthorised application of proprietary information

ABSTRACT As legal and business interests continue to arise concerning the deployment of blockchains to different use cases, concerns have equally followed as to how legal liability would attach to participants within blockchain networks. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion concerning the attribution of joint legal liability to nodes within blockchain-based networks. It argues that there should be no broad-brush legal rule governing the issue and that it is the modus operandi of each network that should be determinative of the applicable standard of legal liability in every situation. This paper adopts the use case of innovation and creativity networks to advance the argument that individual liability, as a standard, may in some cases be superior to and more socially beneficial than the use of joint legal liability.