License

Attribution

Decentralized file storage breaks copyright enforcement. We use IPFS/Arweave, which optimizes for the permanence of data. As a result, it becomes very difficult to remove content from the network. Fundamentally we need to re-think how copyright works in a decentralized world. In an ideal case, it would be permissionless to use content with any derivative work flowing back to the original. If someone steals a piece of content, usually people in the comments roast the person for not attributing the original. We think that this social enforcement is incredibly powerful especially in the context of NFTs. Since the value of NFTs is largely driven by social consensus, it is likely that if someone steals content, the price of the editions will reflect the lack of attribution.

Lithography

The technique that LTL is developing is to create and exchange authorized copies that can prove their relationship to an original NFT is called crypto-lithography. Similar to the lithographic printing process, zero-knowledge cryptography technology shields the original NFT while letting people see, enjoy and sell unique, verifiable prints. A select group of artists were chosen to submit one special artwork to LTLk for early collectors to begin testing before opening up to more artists. It is important to improve on the way NFTs handle legal rights and artists control their intellectual property. It’s no longer a game of guessing what the license agreement terms are, especially on secondary market transactions. The license agreement is embedded in the NFT metadata itself.

Photographers can control their own commission, royalties, and licensing. Not only does this prove provenance for photographers, but it makes it easier for buyers to understand how they can legally use an image. And it’s all immutably recorded on the blockchain. Print and canvas physical products can be added to NFT sales as “unlockable content.” Unlockable content is anything the photographer wants to include in the sale upon purchase of the NFT. This allows photographers to leverage exposure on the platform to sell their images in any medium they choose. NFTs with unlockable content can be priced however the creator chooses to include the sales price of the unlockable content itself. Photographers can even dictate license types for different mediums.

CCO

LiveTheLifeTV empowers the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation. We develop expertise, tools, and policies to embrace digital change and encourage partnerships that foster innovation. The ease with which copyright issues can be tackled is one of the biggest pros. It is very secure, and creators can receive revenues and royalties for their hard work. Creative work has value, artists know that, and so does everyone else. With CC0 NFTs, creators have much more freedom while still allowing authenticity and transparency. Creative Commons can help eliminate issues that creep up regarding copyright.

CC0 enables artists, and other creators and owners of copyright- or database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and thereby place them as completely as possible in the public domain, so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law.

In contrast to CC’s licenses that allow copyright holders to choose from a range of permissions while retaining their copyright, CC0 empowers yet another choice altogether – the choice to opt out of copyright and database protection, and the exclusive rights automatically granted to creators – the “no rights reserved” alternative to our licenses.

NFTs + CC0 = open-source intellectual property.

The CC0 status fosters an environment in which an open community develops IP together, and all derivatives/spinoffs/remixes extend the original project’s aura and cultural charge. Accordingly, CC0 can be a powerful force multiplier for growing an NFT brand.

“The market for non-fungible tokens or ‘NFTs’ enables authors to sell their works without relying on copyright at all. An NFT is a transferable cryptographic token. Authors can create NFTs that represent ‘ownership’ of their works and sell those NFTs to collectors. The NFT market recognizes the owner of a ‘legitimate’ NFT of a work as the ‘owner’ of the work, even though NFTs typically don’t convey copyright ownership of the work. I call this ‘pwnership,’ because it consists of ‘clout,’ rather than control. NFT owners don’t need copyright, because pwnership depends on the endorsement of the author, rather than control of the use of the work. In fact, NFT owners encourage others to use the work, because popularity increases the value of pwnership.” law professor and NFT creator Brian L. Frye

Our fav example of CCO = NounsDAO (see our next page)

NFT License

CryptoPunks makes use of the NFT license, which allows holders to use their NFTs for “personal, non-commercial uses” while the creators retain claim to the IP and copyrights around Punks.