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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AncientJoe, post: 8011530, member: 44357&quot;]I agree that digital art should be able to be sold (even fractionally) as is physical art is but with NFTs, perhaps surprisingly, the copyright is <b>not </b>transferred, unless a separate arrangement is made.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/16/no-nfts-arent-copyrights/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/16/no-nfts-arent-copyrights/" rel="nofollow">https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/16/no-nfts-arent-copyrights/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s one example where some slight commercial rights are granted but this is not the default:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Ownership of an NFT as a unique token – versus ownership of the content that such NFT may be associated with – is a critical distinction. When someone purchases an NFT tied to a piece of content, they have <i>not </i>automatically purchased the underlying intellectual property rights in such piece of content. Under Section 106 of the U.S. Copyright Act, a copyright owner has certain exclusive rights to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, perform, display, and distribute the copyrighted work. As a general rule, the purchase of a piece of art does not transfer all copyright in such work to the buyer. For example, when someone buys a painting at an art gallery for their home, they are acquiring the physical painting itself, which they can display, but not the underlying rights to reproduce, make derivative works of, or distribute copies of such painting.</p><p><br /></p><p>In reality, the underlying copyright only transfers if the copyright’s owner evidences in writing that they intend to transfer those rights alongside the copy of the work. Unless the NFT owner has received explicit permission from the seller, the NFT owner does not automatically acquire the legal right to take pictures of the creative work attached to the NFT and make T-shirts or postcards for sale. Absent further documentation, the purchaser of an NFT acquires through that purchase an implied non-exclusive license to display the related media in their token wallet for personal purposes only, but does <i>not</i> own the underlying copyright in the content the NFT is associated with or the right to display that media on third-party products, websites, or platforms.</p><p><br /></p><p>The question of “What rights are you buying?” when someone buys an NFT tied to a creative work is something that the parties can, and ideally should, contract around. For example, Dapper Labs, operator of the popular NBA Top Shot platform, has promulgated a template <a href="https://medium.com/dapperlabs/nft-license-2-0-why-a-nft-can-do-what-mickey-mouse-never-could-27673d5f29aa" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://medium.com/dapperlabs/nft-license-2-0-why-a-nft-can-do-what-mickey-mouse-never-could-27673d5f29aa" rel="nofollow">NFT License</a> that NFT sellers can adopt to outline what rights are being licensed to the NFT buyer. The NFT License distinguishes the actual NFT token from the “art” associated with the NFT (the underlying image, music, sound, or combination thereof). The license clarifies that the buyer of the NFT receives (i) a personal license to use and display the art associated with the NFT, as well as (ii) a commercial license to make merchandise that displays that art associated with the NFT, a license subject to a $100,000 gross revenue per year limit.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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