In May 2025, patent troll Malikie Innovations Ltd. filed lawsuits against two major Bitcoin miners — Core Scientific (CORZ) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) — alleging infringement of patents tied to elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). The patents, originally developed by Certicom and acquired via BlackBerry, target basic cryptographic operations like signature verification — things all Bitcoin nodes, miners, and wallets do every day.
The implications are huge: if Malikie succeeds, everyone running Bitcoin software — from solo miners to wallet devs — could be exposed to patent liability.
The Bitcoin community isn’t taking this lying down. Drawing lessons from past battles (e.g. EFF’s takedown of the “podcast patent”), the fightback is already underway:
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Prior Art: Bitcoiners are hunting for pre-2005 cryptography literature to invalidate the patents.
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Inter Partes Review (IPR): A low-cost, high-success tool to challenge bad patents at the USPTO. Community groups like COPA and Unified Patents are preparing for action.
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Legal Tactics: Declaratory judgments, Alice motions, venue fights, and “never settle” strategies are all on the table.
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Community Defense: From COPA and the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund to crowd-sourced bounties for invalidating patents, the entire ecosystem is mobilizing.
If we win, we not only eliminate these patents but set a precedent that Bitcoin is not an easy target. If we lose, we risk a de facto “patent tax” on running Bitcoin infrastructure in the U.S.
This isn't just about two companies. It’s about defending Bitcoin itself.
Read the full breakdown of legal strategy, community responses, and potential fallout here.