Patent is related to .Art’s “Digital Twin” offering.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent number 10,805,263 (pdf) to UKCI Holdings Limited, operator of the .art domain name registry, for Domain name registry database.
The patent describes a method of storing identifying information for objects using additional registration data fields in Whois.
The .art registry offers a service that includes identifying characteristics of artwork in a domain’s Whois records. The registry provides a digital letter of authenticity for artwork via a domain name through a service it calls a “Digital Twin.” Digital Twin is a term used in the internet of things to describe a digital replica of a physical entity.
The registry describes the service as:
Digital Twin by .ART stores information about art objects in a way that provides evidence of provenance, real-time provenance tracking and increases an art object’s value. Leveraging the easy-to-understand technology of domain names, using an international standard for describing cultural objects developed the J. Paul Getty Trust, and offering the option of a blockchain connection, Digital Twin by .ART provides a sophisticated but easy-to-use art object identification tool.
An example .Art Digital Twin certificate can be found at ateliersovetski.art. .Art is also a top level domain connected to Ethereum Name Service, so the domain’s blockchain transactions can be tracked in ENS Whois.
The patent notes that the same concept can be applied to other items such as vintage autos.
UKCI Holdings Limited applied for the patent in June 2017 and it was granted today.
Charles says
The link in the article leads here:
https://ateliersovetski.art/certcard/
At the bottom of the page note the following text:
“UK Creative Ideas Ltd and its product, Digital Twin, Make No Guarantee of Validity”
“Please be advised that nothing found in these Certificates has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.”
“However, UKCI cannot guarantee the validity of the of the information found here.”
QUESTION: Please tell me what the “certificate” is certifying?
Derrick says
It looks to me that the digital twin certificate is establishing intellectual property for a given art object using the DNS by the creator / authorised representative as a point of establishing provenance. The artist is certifying their work. Kind of obvious…
David Thornton says
There seems to be a mistake in the text on that web site as the first commenter here has noted. I’ve been to the site and checked it myself. It reads:
“However, UKCI cannot guarantee the validity of the of the information found here.”
The above does not make sense. Duplicated “of the”.
Also you write “the digital twin certificate is establishing intellectual property for a given art object using the DNS by the creator / authorised representative as a point of establishing provenance. The artist is certifying their work. Kind of obvious…”
Can you explain what you mean by “establishing intellectual property for a given art object” and explain *how* the digital certificate is doing this?
It’s not “kind of obvious” because it’s not explained anywhere. If it were, I’d agree.
Derrick says
Obvious to me because I’m both technical, an artist and read what it’s all about at… IP.Art. It’s a timestamped digital record, containing specific information as defined by Object ID by the artist for one of their works that contributes to authenticity, adds value and useful for disputes in establishing provenance.
Charles says
cer·tif·i·cate
DFN:
1) an official document attesting a certain fact.
2) provide with or attest in an official document.
This is what SSL “certificates” are all about, a third party “trust anchor”. Its the trust of that third party, by the OTHER two parties wanting verification, that is key.
This is also why browsers refuse to accept “self sign certificates” as the browser policy is that there SHALL be a third party “certification” of the contents, the site owner SHALL NOT serve as the trust anchor (= certificate producer).
And as we geeks know, a self signed certificate provides MORE security of the connection than a third party certificate (only the site owner knows the private key), but it does not provide the certification of identity …..
Here we have the registry creating that third party trust anchor (the patent of the article) and then saying they have no responsibility over its contents or use. That results in the entire concept being not worthy of trust, as no third party is accepting responsibility for the contents.
I’m not trusting “you”, the whole idea is you have to go to someone *I* trust and pay to have them confirm *TO ME* you are who you say you are (exactly what SSL certificates do, as well as property records at the recorders office). That is the foundation of the third party trust anchor concept.
Derrick says
Apples v Oranges.
The artist is certifying their work in the same way a qualified electrician certifies their work without third party consent for approval. Artists have been signing their work for years without an SSL mechanism with a simple signature and paper certificate of the art object. Digital Twin appears to be the digital equivalent of a long established system of art provenance. I have my own solution that tackles KYC (Know Your Customer) which is a separate issue from an artist merely certifying their work.
Charles says
>>>”qualified” electrician certifies
The qualification is a third party trust anchor, usually by licensure.
li·cen·sure
DFN
1) the granting or regulation of licenses, as for professionals.
The relationship with the electrician does include a third party trust anchor, and they are accountable to that third party if they do something wrong. In other words they lose their license, get kicked out of the union, etc, and have to find another career.
To be clear, to me the registry is presenting something that would seem to enhance the validity of a transaction, and I’ve yet to understand what that is. If an artist tells me its their work, the media of the does not seem to matter, versus a third party telling me it is so.
This proxy substitution of truth tries to make the new truth seem better that the original … Its the same truth …
Kurt Pritz says
This is a good discussion about the effectiveness of certification and other evidence of authenticity that has plagued / intrigued the art market for centuries. Information accompanying artwork can increase it value.
The gist of this invention is that information stored in the Whois database and blockchain carries an additional air of reliability due to the distributed, secure nature of those databases. The certificate is merely a product offering that will continue to evolve — to provide an “instant website.” The artwork owner can provide her/his own certificate with attestation provided by experts and store that as a DNS record, if the artwork owner wants to pay for that.
The invention and patent provides an inexpensive, reliable launching pad for storing information in Whois and DNS records, and providing provenance through the blockchain. It is a flexible platform that the artwork owners can use however they see fit.
(I worked on this patent application.)