NFTs are one of the foundations of web3. This series will introduce NFTs through 30 short articles, allowing everyone to understand and master the relevant knowledge about NFTs from scratch.
As a form of digital asset, we can own NFTs, but can anyone use NFTs in their own business?
NFT Intellectual Property#
Here, we need to introduce the concept of intellectual property. Just like in other creative fields, intellectual property exists in the NFT space. After purchasing an NFT, we only obtain a digital asset. It is more important to understand "what rights we will have" when owning these NFTs. In this article, we will focus on the issue of intellectual property rights related to NFTs, hoping to provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of NFTs.
After purchasing NFTs, most people use them as their avatars, art collections, items for trading and profit, etc. However, many people are not clear about the rights they have when holding these NFTs. Simply owning an NFT does not mean that we can use it freely. Just like buying a movie or music CD, we cannot freely copy or play it for others to charge fees. NFTs also have similar permission divisions. When we own an NFT, we only have the "rights belonging to the holder" that the creator has written in the smart contract.
Restricted NFT Intellectual Property#
Like other types of assets, NFTs have their own ownership. Ownership includes the right to copy, distribute, and display the work, as well as the possibility of creating derivative works based on the original work. You can even commercialize your own NFT and use the rights of intellectual property according to your own wishes. All of these depend on the declarations made by the NFT creators in the smart contract, and the permissions open to holders regarding intellectual property rights vary for each NFT.
Let's take CryptoPunks as an example. They state on their official website, "You own the NFT, the creator owns the copyright and licenses it to you. You can create derivative works and profit from them. However, the copyright of the NFT is always held by the creator." This kind of control over NFT copyrights by the project team happens in most NFT projects because they want to have some control over the development of NFTs. Otherwise, if any holder can freely create and use NFTs, it will disrupt the narrative developed by the NFT project team. In order to have a longer-term future for NFT projects, the project team will hold more rights in their own hands and only authorize their use to holders.
CC0#
Of course, some projects hope to stimulate the curiosity and creativity of the community and adopt the CC0 model. CC0 stands for Creative Commons Zero, which means that anyone can use NFTs to create and profit. The project team completely opens all permissions of the NFT to users.
Implementing CC0 has its pros and cons. Anyone can create derivative works based on NFTs, sell derivative works, create graphic and video works containing NFTs, etc., without obtaining permission from the issuer of the NFT or paying fees to the issuer. NFT holders have all the permissions, but others can also use NFTs freely, and no one protects the copyright of your NFT.
In this case, a large number of NFT-based creations either have a negative impact on NFTs, causing the price of NFTs to fall, or strengthen the dissemination and positive influence of NFTs, causing the price of NFTs to rise.
Distinguishing Copyright and Trademark#
In the above content, we discussed the issue of NFT copyright. Different projects have different levels of openness regarding NFT copyright. We need to understand the permissions of the NFTs we hold in order to use them better. In addition to intellectual property rights, we also need to distinguish between copyright and trademark. Copyright is part of intellectual property rights, while a trademark is the exclusive right registered by a brand.
For easy understanding, let's take the Moonbirds NFT project as an example. Because this NFT implements CC0 copyright, anyone can use "Moonbird," but cannot use "Moonbirds" because "Moonbirds" is a registered trademark of PROOF Holdings, Inc. (the issuer of Moonbirds).
Conclusion#
The issue of NFT intellectual property rights is a developing field. With the development of the NFT space, the understanding and implementation of NFT intellectual property rights will also change dynamically. It is difficult to accurately describe what NFT intellectual property rights are, but we can only describe the intellectual property rights of already issued NFTs.
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