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The patent-support platform for Black inventors — a plain-language path through the USPTO process, a secure document vault, blockchain proof-of-invention, and a research terminal of thousands of historical Black American patents.
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The patent system is hard to navigate and expensive to get wrong — and Black inventors have historically been excluded from the capital, counsel, and institutional knowledge that make it navigable. The result is a documented history of innovation that went unprotected and uncompensated, and a present-day gap in who actually files.
The goal was a platform that closes that gap: one that demystifies the USPTO process in plain language, gives inventors the tools to document and protect their work for free, and connects their effort to a legacy most have never been shown.
A free, end-to-end platform that walks an inventor from first sketch to granted patent — built so a first-timer can use it without an attorney, while still routing to one when it matters.
A plain-language walkthrough of the full process — what to do at each stage, what it costs, and the deadlines that can't be missed.
An immutable, SHA-256 timestamped record written to a public ledger, establishing a verifiable invention date before USPTO filing.
Encrypted storage for notebooks, prior-art logs, and filings — each upload hashed and anchored to the inventor's record.
A research tool over thousands of historical Black American patents, connecting an inventor's work to the lineage it continues.
A path to MADE CX advocates and a pro-bono / reduced-fee attorney network for inventors who qualify.
Inventor's notebook, prior-art search log, NDA templates, and a current USPTO fee schedule — all downloadable, no cost.
Configure-first and evidence-first: every inventor gets a working account and a Chain ID at sign-up, before any commitment, so the value is visible immediately. The hard parts — the legal process, the cryptographic proof, the historical dataset — are wrapped in language and interface a non-expert can actually move through.
It's built to be honest about its limits, too: BLK:INV is not a law firm, and the platform is explicit that Chain ID is a supplementary evidence layer, not a substitute for filing. Trust is the product, so the design never overclaims.
The Patent Terminal is a data-visualization layer built over a scholarly dataset of Black American inventors (ICPSR Study 109970), served from a PostgreSQL backend — the kind of database and visualization work that turns a raw archive into something an inventor can explore.
BLK:INV is live and free at blkinv.org, operated by MADE CX in partnership with MWBC — one of four production platforms in the BLK network documenting Black contribution across invention, fashion, music, and the arts. It's a working answer to a real gap, not a pitch for one.
Start with a $5,000 Lab — a working prototype and a clear verdict within days.