NFTs And Copyright Quandary

Abstract

NFTs have garnered massive investor attention in the last few years. While the technology is still at its nascent stage, the massive price pump for major NFTs such as Dragon kitty, Shatner’s digital cards, etc. show that NFTs are going to be with us for a very long time along with other blockchain innovations. The present article focuses on the right to create NFT as part of the statutory bundle of rights provided under the Copyright Act. The article discusses the copyright jurisprudence through historical lenses to exhibit that the copyright law has always been in a state of constant evolution encompassing wide variety of technological innovation on one hand and protecting the rights of the creators on the other. The article addresses questions such as if NFTs can be copyrighted, whether creation of an NFT without authorization amounts to copyright infringement, whether there exists a right to create an NFT among others. Finally, the article concludes the discussion by suggesting various ways in which the NFTs can be availed without the hullaballoo of copyright infringement by introduction of delimitation of rights and liabilities clauses within smart contracts, and by recognizing the right to create NFT as part of the copyright framework.