Protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is a long-standing challenge. In the collaborative digital environments, where multiple professionals use digital platforms such as building information modelling to collaborate on a building design, this challenge has intensified. This research harnesses the functions of blockchain technology, such as consensus mechanisms, distributed broadcasting ledgers, cryptographic algorithms, and non-fungible tokens, to propose a blockchain-based framework to protect building design IPR in the AEC industry. Adopting a design science approach, a framework is proposed and then further developed into a system that is implemented, illustrated, and evaluated in a case study. The system uses non-fungible tokens to tokenize building design IPR and deploys blockchain’s decentralized consensus mechanisms, distributed ledgers, and cryptographic algorithms to safeguard the IPR and its transactions. This prototype system is found feasible with satisfactory performance in enhancing the efficiency of IPR registration and protection, reducing cost, improving information transparency, reinforcing immutability, and preventing non-valuable registrations. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to develop the framework for different applications such as real-life design IPR protection and design management.

中文翻译：

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基于区块链的部署框架，用于在协作数字环境中保护建筑设计知识产权

保护建筑、工程和施工 (AEC) 行业的知识产权 (IPR) 是一项长期存在的挑战。在协作数字环境中，多名专业人员使用建筑信息模型等数字平台来协作进行建筑设计，这一挑战变得更加严峻。本研究利用区块链技术的功能，如共识机制、分布式广播账本、加密算法和不可替代代币等，提出一个基于区块链的框架来保护 AEC 行业的建筑设计知识产权。采用设计科学方法，提出一个框架，然后进一步开发成一个在案例研究中实施、说明和评估的系统。该系统使用不可替代的代币对建筑设计知识产权进行代币化，并部署区块链的去中心化共识机制、分布式账本和密码算法来保护知识产权及其交易。该原型系统在提高知识产权注册和保护效率、降低成本、提高信息透明度、增强不变性、防止无价值注册等方面具有良好的可行性和良好的性能。鼓励研究人员和从业者开发适用于现实设计知识产权保护和设计管理等不同应用的框架。