120 Int. J. Intellectual Property Management, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2019 Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Text mining as a facilitating tool for deploying blockchain technology in the intellectual property rights system Ibrahim Alnafrah*, Elena Bogdanova and Tatyana Maximova Department of Intellectual Property and Innovation Management, Faculty of Technological Management and Innovation, ITMO University, Kronverkskiy Prospekt, 4, Saint Petersburg, 197101, Russia Email: ibrahimalnafrah@gmail.com Email: elenaleonardovna@mail.ru Email: maximovatg@gmail.com * Corresponding author Abstract: The aim of the study is to introduce a new application of machine-learning techniques (text mining, clustering and classification) and the blockchain technology within the intellectual property rights (IPRs) management system. Using such machine-learning techniques facilitates the management process of intellectual properties (IPs) and makes it more efficient. Additionally, using the blockchain technology for IPRs management purposes enables all stakeholders to utilise the extracted data of the IP objects from the blockchain network. In this study, a text-mining technique was used to identify the two types of IP documents based on specific categories, namely, patent and trademark. In order to achieve this objective, a range of machine-learning techniques was used for 5,500 patent documents and 400 trademark documents. The results of the logistic regression model showed a high level of prediction accuracy of document type at the pre-registration stage on the blockchain network. This high level of prediction accuracy demonstrates that using machine-learning and text-mining techniques will facilitate the IPRs management system. This new application of specific machine-learning techniques in the IPRs management process contributes essentially to solving the problem in a conventional IPRs system associated with rights protection and data availability. Keywords: intellectual property rights; IPRs; blockchain technology; BCT; machine-learning techniques; text mining; smart contract. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Alnafrah, I., Bogdanova, E. and Maximova, T. (2019) ‘Text mining as a facilitating tool for deploying blockchain technology in the intellectual property rights system’, Int. J. Intellectual Property Management, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.120–135. Biographical notes: Ibrahim Alnafrah is PhD Researcher at ITMO University, Department of Intellectual Property and Innovation Management, Saint Petersburg, Russia and Teacher Assistant at Damascus University, Faculty of Economics, Damascus, Syria. He has published many articles in the field of the knowledge-based economy and national innovation system in Russian and English language. His research interests are: building and transition towards a