Abstract: Blockchain technology can create a trustworthy environment, and as a result, its application to intellectual property (IP) management has received a lot of attention from the industry. The ability of IP management platforms to accurately provide evidence of IP rights confirmation (evidence credibility) is a very important competitive metric, but the question of the optimal strategies for platforms to compete when they can choose from multiple channels of confirmation has not been investigated. To address this issue, a three-stage game model is developed to analyze the optimal competition strategies of two oligopolistic IP management platforms through multiple channels, i.e., traditional channels, blockchain channels, and both channels open at the same time; and the model is extended to investigate the optimal strategies of emerging platforms when competing with existing platforms. The analytical solution and numerical simulation results lead to the following conclusions: (1) When the duopoly platforms compete, the platforms should choose their competition strategies according to the proportion of users with high timeliness requirements; when the proportion is low, both platforms provide only traditional channels; when the proportion is moderate, both platforms offer both traditional channels and blockchain channels; and when the proportion is high, one platform provides only traditional channels and the other platform provides both channels. (2) When the proportion of users with high timeliness requirements is low, the existing platforms should open the blockchain channel service simultaneously; when the proportion is high, the existing platforms should open only the traditional channel. This study provides guidance to the operational management of existing IP platforms, and also adds knowledge to the understanding of the impact of blockchain on specific industries.

Key words: blockchain; intellectual property management; game theory; hotelling model;evidence credibility