NFTs and Copyright Law: Legal Questions Arise from Beeple, Jack Dorsey Sales
The sale of Beeple's digital artwork 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days' as an NFT for $69.3 million at Christie's, along with Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold for $2.9 million and Italian artist Morgan's musical work for about $21,000, raises legal questions. NFTs create a unique digital certificate of authenticity for intangible assets, but buyers may not acquire economic rights. Unauthorized tokenization, as seen with Russian artist Weird Undead on OpenSea, poses copyright issues. SIAE announced on March 24 it will use blockchain for rights management. The article, by lawyer Raffaella Pellegrino in Artribune Magazine #59, explores legal implications for consumer protection and copyright, suggesting NFTs could transform digital works into unique editions.
Key facts
- Beeple's 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days' sold as NFT for $69.3 million at Christie's.
- Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold as NFT for $2.9 million.
- Italian artist Morgan sold NFT of 'Premessa della Premessa' for about $21,000, including a meeting and signed prints.
- NFTs provide a digital certificate of authenticity and uniqueness for intangible assets.
- Buyers of NFTs do not automatically acquire economic rights to reproduce the work.
- Russian artist Weird Undead had an NFT of his work auctioned on OpenSea without his consent.
- SIAE announced on March 24 it will use NFT and blockchain technology for rights management.
- The article was written by Raffaella Pellegrino, a lawyer specializing in copyright law.
Entities
Artists
- Beeple
- Jack Dorsey
- Morgan
- Weird Undead
- Raffaella Pellegrino
Institutions
- Christie's
- OpenSea
- SIAE
- Artribune Magazine
Locations
- Italy
- Russia