Megan Noh, co-chair of the firm's Art Law Group, recently co-authored an article titled, "GM! Time to Wake Up and Address Copyright and Other Legal Issues Impacting Visual Art NFTs," which appears in the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts. The article, written in concert with Sarah C. Odenkirk and Yayoi Shionoiri, explores the balance that needs to be struck between adhering to existing legal frameworks and creating novel innovations in an increasingly digital world. The implications for both the copyright and art marketplaces is significant and deserves immediate attention from investors, creators, and regulators alike.
As the authors note:
(T)he NFT world is still evolving and moving at an incredibly quick pace. Because of this, we have observed that standards, best practices, and trending NFT projects also rapidly change. Given this environment, the “move fast and break things” mantra repeated by many NFT enthusiasts means that innovation will plow ahead, but it will also almost certainly create collateral damage. The lack of focus on and consideration for legal rights of artists minting and selling NFTs will eventually catch up in the marketplace, and creators and consumers will be caught in the tangle. While existing copyright and contract laws that apply to the physical art world apply to the NFT world as well, this pre-existing legal framework does not always appropriately reflect the collaboration that takes place among creators of NFT projects. Inconsistent and incomplete attempts to apply such established rules to this quickly evolving digital space will continue to cause complications regarding the rights shared or transferred among stakeholders. For now, NFT purchasers must rely on the T&Cs put forth by the primary or secondary marketplace platform, or the T&Cs related to individual NFT projects to attempt to understand the rights they are receiving.
The article can be viewed in its entirety here.
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