Blockchain Papers

Jie Dong, Naipeng Dong, Guangdong Bai

No abstract is available for this record.

Wei Jia, Bin Yao

Responding to the necessity of scarcity and uniqueness in the digital format, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have recently gained much attention in cultural industries, especially video games and the art market. Faced with the digital paradigm shift and the challenge of dematerialization, creators started to use NTFs in order to emulate the concept of rarity for displaying, promoting, and monetizing their works in digital environments. An NFT is a certificate of ownership implemented through encrypted metadata pointing to a unique copy of a digital file. Likewise, NFTs enable the tokenization of a large array of digital, or even physical, assets. For this reason, they are used to facilitate the digitalization of contents heavily dependent on copyright and scarcity. Non-Fungible Tokens represent an emerging reality of significant economic, social, and cultural importance, which also raises important legal issues especially concerning the very nature of the NFT, as property or license, and the usage of copyrighted contents or trademarks. Indeed, the most frequent legal issues with NFTs are related to the attribution and exploitation of the Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the underlying content or litigations about non-contractual matters (i.e., theft). Litigious cases affecting NFTs most often take on an international dimension due to the decentralized nature of the technology on which they are developed, distributed on servers hosted in a multitude of countries, as well as the business practices of trading platforms that connect users from all over the world. Consequently, the principles of Private International Law (PIL) are applied to solve legal conflicts. This study focuses on the resolution of litigations related to NFTs in the three countries leading the global art markets: the US, the UK, and China. The analysis focuses on the application of international private law in relation to recent jurisprudence concerning conflicts involving NFTs and artworks.

Alexandre Moreaux

Traçage du contenu visuel, droits de propriété intellectuelle & blockchain : de l'abstraction des processus à l'interopérabilité fonctionnelle En amenant un niveau de confiance et d'immutabilité jusqu'alors inégalé, l'émergence synchrone du paradigme du web3 et des blockchains applicatives a ouvert de nouvelles perspectives dans le domaine du contenu visuel et de la gestion des droits de propriété intellectuelle sous-jacents. Cependant, outre les problèmes endémiques à l'aspect décentralisé des blockchains, cette association a également mis en lumière de nouveaux défis. La thèse aborde cinq de tels défis à travers le prisme des deux concepts fondamentaux des blockchains applicatives, à savoir les tokens et les Smart Contracts, et de leur interopérabilité (i.e., à leur capacité à partager des données avec d'autres briques applicatives).Les deux premiers sujets abordés concernent les tokens, i.e., la représentation d'actifs sur la blockchain, qui ont fait l'objet de vives critiques de la part des experts et du public en raison de (1) leurs modes de distribution et de leurs (2) lacunes quant aux droits de propriété intellectuelle. Si une partie de l'aversion envers les tokens résulte d'une incompréhension fondamentale à l'égard de ce qu'ils sont, d'importantes limitantes techniques ont également fait surface au fil des ans. De plus, les tokens ont également été confrontés à des problèmes réglementaires et juridiques qui ont contribué à leur réputation ambiguë.Les deux sujets de recherche suivants concernent les Smart Contracts, i.e., les logiciels immuables qui peuvent être déployés sur les blockchains et qui servent notamment aux applications décentralisées (dApps). Au-delà de leur sensibilité aux erreurs humaines, les Smart Contracts sont confrontés à des limitations fondamentales comme (3) le seuil élevé de connaissances techniques requises à leur development et (4) leurs capacités de calcul limitées. De surcroît, il est important de comprendre que ces limitations ne sont pas seulement dues à la relative nouveauté du concept mais au fait que la notion de Smart Contract ne vise pas à remplacer celle du logiciel web2 et qu'elles doivent être pensées comme complémentaires.La thèse répond tout d'abord à ces quatre premières problématiques via l'abstraction de processus connus afin de concevoir, spécifier, et implémenter des briques méthodologiques répondant à des attentes définies par notre analyse bibliographique du sujet. Les quatre premières contributions sont :• Un mode de distribution de contenu visuel produit par des objets connectés via un courtier automatique doté de capacités de dépôt fiduciaire basé sur un système de confiance numérique.• Une structure logicielle indépendante des marchés standards mettant les Smart Contracts au niveau conceptuel des tokens afin de garantir l'applications de DPI lors de l'échange de ces derniers.• Un processus permettant la génération systématique et agnostique à l'environnement blockchain de Smart Contracts à partir d'ontologies.• Une méthodologie associant de manière mutuellement bénéfique des éléments web2 et web3 qui permet le calcul d'empreintes numériques (fingerprints), dont le coût est normalement prohibitif dans un environnement blockchain.Enfin, le dernier sujet traité est celui de (5) la polyvalence des briques applicatives que nous aborderons par l'interopérabilité des quatre premières contributions dans une architecture permettant la prise en charge de contenu visuel dans l'environnement blockchain de sa création authentifiée jusqu'à sa distribution tracée et conforme aux droits de propriété intellectuelle. Cette association démontre la capacité de nos briques méthodologiques à être intégrées dans des solutions plus complexes et à répondre à des problèmes tangibles.Nous conclurons cette thèse avec une analyse macroscopique de notre travail, mettant en perspective nos contributions vis-à-vis de du futur des blockchains que nous prévoyons à court et à long terme.

Camilla Scarpellino

The art market seems exclusive to a limited circle of collectors due to information imbalances regarding artworks and their value. Often, one must turn to experts and auction houses to finalize a deal. In addition to artistic advice, legal consultations are also necessary, often due to third-party claims on the ownership of the artwork or cases of fraud. This article aims to explore the potential advantages of utilizing distributed ledger technology in the art market to verify and record transactions involving whole or parts of artworks, making them traceable and perhaps more easily purchasable.

Ioannis Revolidis

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have emerged as a disruptive force, challenging the traditional paradigms of digital asset ownership and control. As Fortnow and Terry aptly highlight, NFTs seek to redefine the relationship between creatives, users, and digital artwork, a relationship historically dominated by powerful online intermediaries operating under the access model [1].The prevailing access model, underpinned by a blend of technological, legal, and market dynamics, has largely curtailed the ability of creators and individual internet users to exert meaningful control over digital assets. Instead, these assets are predominantly governed by centralized intermediaries, offering seemingly unlimited access. While this model boasts advantages, such as a robust rights management system ensuring IP security and user convenience [4], it is not without its criticisms. The most glaring concern for creators is the 'value gap' -the disparity between the value generated by intermediaries and the compensation received by content creators [3]. This concern was so profound that it catalysed significant reforms in the EU's digital platform regulations in the form of the DSM Directive and, most recently, the DSA Act [2].Centralized intermediaries, with their overarching influence, have not only skewed the value distribution but have also left users vulnerable. The tentative nature of access rights means users can be deprived of their digital assets without warning, rendering them powerless against potential misuse by these intermediaries [5].This special issue of the journal underscores the profound impact of NFTs on Intellectual Property law. We are privileged to feature contributions that delve deep into this relationship from diverse legal perspectives. Dr. Ioanna Lapatoura offers a compelling analysis of the intricate relationship between NFTs and trademark law, using the MetaBirkins case as a focal point. Daniel Becker and Aylton Gonçalves, on the other hand, explore the implications of NFTs within the Brazilian legal framework. However, the legal ramifications of NFTs extend beyond IP law. In that context, Matteo Alessandro challenges traditional notions of property in light of NFTs, while Marica Ciantar examines the transformative potential of NFTs and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) in reshaping collective organizational governance. Prof. Dr.Yulia S. Kharitonova exploredlegal issues of decentralized services in the context of utility NFTs. J.-G. A. Hanneman researched DAOs and AI-based Smart Contracts. The darker aspects of NFT transactions are also addressed, with Ass Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Kafteranis, Dr. Huseyin Unozkan and Prof. Dr. Umut Turksen elucidating their alignment with financial crime regulations. Moreover, the discourse on NFTs in private law is expanded upon by Dr. Elena Tzoulia, who highlights their intersection with the secondary digital consumer protection acquis in the EU.This issue serves as a testament to the multifaceted legal challenges and opportunities presented by NFTs. Through the insightful contributions of our esteemed authors, we hope to foster a deeper understanding and stimulate further discourse on this pivotal topic.

Eleni Tzoulia

In early 2023 a United States (US) court ruled that a crypto art collection named “Metabirkins”, depictingthe famous “Birkin” bag of Hermès, infringedtrademark rights. This ruling conferred Hermès the power to ban the commercial exploitation of Metabirkins by their designer, through a permanent injunction order. By the time that order was issued, however, several Metabirkins had already been sold to third parties. Taking this case as a point of reference, thispaper examinescrypto art transactions from the perspective of EU intellectual property (IP) and consumer protection law. First, it clarifies the conditions under which the purchasers and licensees of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) fall under the consumer concept. Then, it examines whether the critical facts would constitute a trademark infringement in the EU, and what would have been the impact of such an infringement on the rightful use of the NFTs by their right-holders. Finally, the paper discussesDirective 2019/770 in protectingconsumersand itsapplicability in the blockchain ecosystem.

MK Fintech Partners, Matteo Alessandro

The paper examines the concept of ownership and its potential application to digital assets, particularly Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”). Technological advancements which allow the creation, storage, and sale of unique digital assets in a purely digital manner have raised many questions about the concept of ‘digital ownership’. However, the legal frameworks regulating the ownership, sale, and legal classification of digital assets have not evolved at the same paceas technology. This leads to legal uncertainty in the digital landscape, and weakened protection for the users of this technology, particularly in the European Union (“EU”). Although the concept of digital property has been discussed theoretically, practical recommendations for the implementation of this concept are still scarce. This paper discusses the concept of digital property after providing a contextual understanding of NFTs and the technology behind them. Finally, the author offersrecommendations for a harmonised EU-level framework for the legal classification of NFTs, and for the concept of digital property.

Claudia S. Quiñones Vilá

The digital revolution has launched myriad new technologies in the field of art and cultural heritage law, including digital art, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), artificial intelligence (AI)-generated art, virtual reality and reality augmentation, online viewing rooms and auctions, holograms, immersive experiences, and more. As a $67.8 billion industry, the art market is a global driver of innovation, international collaboration, and national economies, given its cross-border transactions. However, given the extremely rapid development of these new technologies, regulators have struggled to keep pace and implement legal measures that are fit for purpose in this field. Limited oversight has resulted in several claims that have the potential to change the legal landscape. For instance, claims over the theft/misappropriation of NFTs and the related fraud and money laundering that may ensue, as well as a recent class action copyright infringement suit against the creators of a popular AI algorithm and infringement claims over immersive installation and light technologies, demonstrate how new ways of thinking are required to assess cases involving digital property (distinguished from other types of non-tangible property). Moreover, the US Supreme Court has issued a landmark ruling on fair use within the copyright context, which will be relied upon in the future to determine whether (and to what extent) the appropriation of existing copyrighted material is permitted. This includes both the digital use of physical artworks and the use of born-digital works. Although jurisprudential decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, factual patterns involving online media, digital art, and related technologies could serve as guidance for legislators and other decision-makers when considering what limits should be imposed on Web 3.0. This article will focus on recent US-based claims and regulations and dovetail with existing art market regulations in this jurisdiction (e.g., anti-money-laundering statutes) to determine their impact on new technologies, whether directly or indirectly. Finally, the article highlights ongoing trends and preoccupations to provide an overview of the shifting legal landscape.

Olivia Rybak-Karkosz

In this paper, the author aims to analyse the types of crimes committed in cyberspace against creators and owners of NFT. Non-fungible tokens have been favored by the art world (also known as the crypto-art market) for a few years now. They attract numerous digital art creators and cryptocurrency investors. The token is recorded in a blockchain and is used to certify authenticity and ownership. Therefore, the art world is particularly interested in this solution. However, as practice shows, NFT isn’t flawless, and cybercriminals exploit its flaws. Using methods known from typical cybercrimes, they modify their modus operandi accordingly to the crypto-art market practice. In this paper, the author describes examples of breaches of copyright and intellectual property law, as well as examples of the forgery of NFT. In addition, other crimes, such as fraud and theft of NFT, are described. Types of those crimes are, e.g., bypass security systems, phishing, and installation of malware

Yudong Gao, Xuemei Xie, Yuan Ni

The non-fungible tokens trading of digital content works, as an emerging business model, has rapidly developed while also posing challenges to current copyright protection. The NFT infringement incidents in recent years have exposed many issues, such as lack of government regulation, imperfect copyright protection mechanisms, and illegal profits from service platforms. Considering the collusive behavior during the NFT minting process, this study uses evolutionary game theory to model a game composed of three populations: digital content creators; NFT service platforms; and government regulatory agencies. We derived and analyzed the replication dynamics of the game to determine the evolutionary stability strategy. In addition, combined with numerical simulations, we also analyzed the impact of individual factors on the stability of system evolution. This study identifies that the incentives and fines set by the government must be above a certain threshold in order for game results to develop toward an ideal equilibrium state, and the government can try to improve the efficiency of obtaining and updating market information and set dynamic punishment and reward mechanisms based on this. This study also found that excessive rewards are not conducive to the government fulfilling its own regulatory responsibilities. In this regard, the government can use information technology to reduce the cost of regulation, thereby partially offsetting the costs brought about by incentive mechanisms. In addition, the government can also enhance the governance participation of platforms and creators to improve the robustness of digital copyright protection by strengthening media construction and cultivating public copyright awareness. This study helps to understand the complex relationship between NFT service platforms, digital content creators, and government regulatory authorities and proves the practical meaning of countermeasures and suggestions for improving government digital copyright regulations.

Yupeng Dong, Hong Wu

Shenzhen Golden Idea Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd. v Hangzhou Bigverse Technology Co., Ltd. is the world’s first completed case about copyright infringement of non-fungible token (NFT) works in which a final judgment has been rendered. In this case, the Chinese court explored many legal issues related to NFT works based on an in-depth investigation of NFTs’ transaction process and business model. First, it clarified the legal nature of NFT works. Second, it made explicit judgments on the rights and obligations of related parties such as users, internet platforms, NFT distributors and copyright owners. Third, it clarified the duty of care and legal responsibilities of NFT trading platforms. Lastly, it affirmed the measure of disconnecting the link and blackholing the address of the uploaded NFT information to maximize the effect of stopping the dissemination of infringing content.

Nathier Abrahams, Pitso Tsibolane, Jean-Paul Van Belle

Digital art has many major pitfalls, ranging from issues around tracking ownership to piracy.Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can solve these issues and bring new benefits, such as access to larger markets.Despite this, South Africa's digital artists have slowly adopted NFTs.This research aims to understand the values-based perceptions of South African digital artists toward NFTs.Fifteen South African digital artists were interviewed using semi-structured interviews guided by the updated Holbrook's Typology of Consumer Value framework.Ten positive perceptions, three negative perceptions, three risks and one benefit were identified, explored and analyzed using the framework.This research can assist digital artists and other stakeholders in the NFT ecosystem to understand the values-based perceptions of South African digital artists.It can be used to help assist decisionmakers, artists, intermediaries and other stakeholders in South Africa and potentially elsewhere.Additionally, the validated and updated Typology of Consumer Value can benefit researchers using this framework in future research.

Zarja Peters, Phillip A. Cartwright

Abstract Significant interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a means of changing the music industry has motivated this investigation. First, a comprehensive literature review (of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats [SWOT]) provides a summary of the benefits and costs associated with the deployment of blockchain- and NFT-based transactions in the music industry. Considerable effort has been devoted to identifying the economic, legal and regulatory benefits and drawbacks of applying the new technology. NFTs may be the final realisation of the digital universe, bringing exclusivity and revenues to the creator economy and the chance to revalue creative work. The technology's drawbacks may exceed its advantages. Navigation within the crypto regulatory landscape is still deemed as exploring uncharted territory. It is further complicated by the fact that it is largely uncertain which legal framework may apply due to the lack of jurisdiction-identifying criteria. Second, quantitative research is conducted as an online survey directed towards two research questions: 1) What is the extent of familiarity and knowledge related to NFTs, as well as perspectives on NFTs as potential disruptors? 2) What is the extent of music creators’ perception of NFT-related opportunities and NFT integration into the music industry? Twenty EU countries were selected for the survey. Respondents answered twenty questions focused largely on demographics, their awareness of NFTs and their perceived potential for disrupting the music industry. It is too early to say whether NFTs will be utilised successfully, especially by independent musicians. The arguments in favour of NFTs are compelling, but there are issues regarding the levels of awareness and competence required for implementation.

Anna Bigda-Wójcik

... The recent years have been marked by rising popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), first appeared in 2017,1 as a means to verify ownership and authenticity of digital assets. The opportunities inherent to the NFT rapidly growing industry can be observed through its projected revenue of US $3,162.00 million by 2027.2 NFTs can represent various forms of creative content, including visual arts, music, video games avatars, twits, gifs, newspaper’s columns, designs or postal stamps.3 Any physical work can also be minted into a NFT, as long as it can be digitized.4 By establishing scarcity and rivalry in digital assets, the blockchain technology and NFTs hold promising potential to introduce a digital copyright exhaustion mechanism, which would greatly benefit creators, consumers and the wider digital economy alike. To thoroughly examine the future prospects in this particular domain, this article commences by scrutinizing the copyright exhaustion doctrine in the light of the current regulatory framework and most notable jurisprudence, particularly the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) rulings exemplified in the seminal judgments of UsedSoft5 and Tom Kabinet.6 Subsequently, an evaluation is undertaken to compare the legal standing attained through these rulings with the outcome of the US ReDigi7 case.

Authors unavailable

Decentralized Applications (DApps) refer to computer programs that operate on blockchain platforms and are designed to handle significant amounts of money, facilitate transactions involving valuable assets, and oversee the transfer of digital rights among numerous parties. DApps provide a trustless environment for autonomous, transparent, and fully traceable exchange of value. Many traditional industries, such as finance, energy, and supply chain, are expected to be revolutionized by this new technology. Yet, in reality, the trustworthiness of DApps is under constant threats, with people losing millions of dollars. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how the security and fairness in the DApp world are both due to the mismanaged conflicting interests between contending parties. I will also present solutions we have developed in the past few years and suggest potential future directions.

Yash Wankhede, Shreya Thorvat, Rohini Pise, Sonali Patil

The adoption of a music player that makes use of blockchain technology has the power to fundamentally alter the music business. Music players may guarantee safe and open music ownership and distribution by using a decentralized ledger architecture. Long-standing problems in the music business include piracy, unauthorized distribution, and underpaying musicians. By making it possible for a tamper-proof ledger system that monitors music ownership and distribution, blockchain technology can provide a resolution to these problems. In a music player powered by blockchain, each track would have a unique digital signature, and ownership information would be stored on the blockchain. When a user streams or downloads a song, the payment would be automatically distributed to the appropriate parties, including the artist, record label, and other contributors, based on pre-programmed smart contracts. This ensures that all parties involved in the production and distribution of music are fairly compensated for their contributions. Furthermore, blockchain technology can provide transparency in royalty payments, which has been a major issue in the music industry for decades. By tracking music plays and distributing payments automatically through smart contracts, blockchain-based music players can ensure that artists receive the royalties they are entitled to, and reduce the risk of disputes. This means that artists no longer have to rely on record labels to accurately report their earnings, and can have more control over their own revenue streams. Overall, the implementation of a blockchain-based music player has the potential to create a more equitable and transparent music industry. By utilizing a tamper-proof ledger system, blockchain technology can provide secure and transparent music ownership and distribution, while also ensuring fair compensation for artists and other contributors. As the technology continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how blockchain-based music players will impact the music industry, and how they will shape the relationship between artists and their fans.

The Korean Society of Culture and Convergence, Shenhua Shenhua

This study suggested measures to revitalize the stagnant classic music market by utilizing the recently spotlighted non-fungible token (NFT). This study examined the replaceability based on NFT-related specialized knowledge and relevant preceding studies and utilized them to suggest the classic music market revitalization method by using preceding studies and statistics. NFT is blockchain-based exchange measure called non-fungible token. Since NFT is free from reproduction, falsification, and abuse, NFT is able to maintain its value. Furthermore, NFT is able to maintain the economic value not only physical artworks but also non-physical art values. Therefore, NFT can add economic value and revitalize the classic music market and other markets with decreasing attention. Especially, NFT is expected to protect the property rights and copyrights of classic music, create profits through streaming and other services, and boost transactions based on scarcity to expand the classic market.

Ruslan Budnik

The subject of this study is the legal-economic analysis of the non-fungible token phenomenon. Due to the a priori accessibility of many tokenized intellectual products, the ability to monetize them by copyright methods turns out to be hard to implement. The paper puts forward a hypothesis that token owners apply innovative monetization methods, which do not stand on the prohibition and restriction of access to the protected results of intellectual activity. Instead of deactivated copyright restrictions, token buyers receive some new, additional, non-trivial economic utility that researchers have not reflected yet. If this utility exists, we should identify, analyze and include it in the equation of relations regarding NFT. The second hypothesis of the study stems from the first one. It states that the results of creative activity in the post-economic society take the place of a new etalon of value, which replaces the materialistic standard of worth based on rarity. The consensual value contained in tokenized works brings additional motivators for token purchasers and compensates for the lost sources of income. Our goal is to put and verify the scientific hypotheses of tokenized works' additional non-obvious value existence. We suppose that this innovative utility substitutes traditional copyright ban-based monetization abilities. The research's purpose is also to theoretically generalize its results and formulate a legal-economic concept that explains the motivation for the purchasers of non-fungible tokens and sets the regulations for the NFT market. Methodology. The study of the non-fungible token phenomenon and the verification of formulated hypotheses conducts from the standpoint of the law, economics, an interdisci-plinary legal-economic – institutional point of view, as well as with the help of the monistic copyright doctrine of the People's Republic of China. The research methodology also includes an analysis of the relevant body of knowledge and various points of view of the scientists on the subject of research. The study's main result is the novel elaborated concept of the non-fungible token owner's moral right. This concept fills the rising doctrine of utilitarian digital rights with legal-economic essence. We constructed the non-fungible token owner's moral right consisting of two powers: the right to designate one's name as the owner of a token for a specific creative product and to demand such an indication from others; and also, as a duty of NFT platforms to support the function of informing about the name or pseudonym of the token's owner. Analysis of the appropriate accumulated knowledge, development, and verification of formulated hypotheses on tokenized works' consensual value and additional economic utility, allowed us to achieve the goals of this study. We resolve the issue of token purchasers' motivation and legal-economic grounds for their rational behavior by formulating and substantiating the concept of non-fungible tokens' owner moral right.

Belma Mujević, Mersad Mujević

Copyright law safeguards the exclusive rights of authors to their intellectual creations, emphasizing reproduction, public display, and adaptation. A fundamental distinction within this realm is between the intangible creative work and its tangible representations. Owning a tangible embodiment (like a painting) does not grant rights to reproduce the intellectual work it embodies. This demarcation is critical in the dynamic landscape of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as acquiring an NFT does not automatically confer rights to the associated work. Instead, rights hinge on explicit contractual terms accompanying the NFT transaction. As the world of NFTs continues to unfold in all sorts of directions, delving deep into the intricacies of copyright law is important for artists, investors, and legal practitioners navigating the digital frontier. This chapter offers insights into the various copyright implications associated with NFTs.

Christina Joller, Bruno Pasquier, Daniel Kraus

Les Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ont une importance grandissante dans des secteurs qui sont concernés par le droit d'auteur, comme l'art, les jeux ou les métavers. Ce domaine du droit est donc particulièrement impacté par ce nouveau phénomène. Cet article tente de répondre aux principales questions qui se posent dans ce contexte, comme la protection de l'auteur en cas de création d'un NFT ou le transfert de droits patrimoniaux lors du transfert d'un NFT.
 --
 Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) gewinnen in Bereichen, die vom Urheberrecht betroffen sind, zunehmend an Bedeutung, etwa in der Kunst, bei Spielen oder im Metaversum. Dieses Rechtsgebiet ist daher besonders stark von diesem neuen Phänomen betroffen. Der vorliegende Artikel versucht, die wichtigsten Fragen zu beantworten, die sich in diesem Zusammenhang stellen, wie beispielsweise der Schutz des Urhebers oder der Urheberin bei der Schaffung eines NFT oder die Übertragung von Vermögensrechten bei der Übertragung eines NFT.

Marcelo Garson, Mário Messagi, Leonardo De Marchi

Este artigo analisa a ideologia, os usos e as implicações do NFT (Non-Fungible Token) para a economia da música. O NFT resgata a ideologia da desintermediação das relações econômicas ao prometer retornos financeiros mais altos ao artista, decorrentes de sua conexão direta com o consumidor. A tecnologia, no entanto, reorienta a carreira dos artistas, bem como sua relação com os fãs. Informado pela filosofia anarcocapitalista, o uso do NFT tem condicionado artistas a verem suas obras como ativos valorizáveis, cabendo aos fãs o papel de investidores. A partir da análise bibliográfica, investigamos: (1) a ideologia da desintermediação na economia da música, (2) a inspiração anarcocapitalista no desenvolvimento de tecnologias financeiras, como o NFT, (3) o uso do NFT no mercado de música e (4) o papel dos fãs em uma economia da música financeirizada. Como conclusão, apontamos como o uso de tecnologias como o NFT faz parte de outro momento da indústria da música que pode ser rotulado como pós-streaming.

SOUVIK DAS, DR. VAISHALI SHENDE, JITANSHU TIWARI, Suyash Singh · 5 authors

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets that provide unique ownership and authenticity of digital media such as art, music, and collectibles.NFT Marketplace is a blockchain-based platform that enables the creation, trading, and collecting of NFTs.The platform leverages blockchain technology to ensure the authenticity and ownership of NFTs, providing a secure and transparent way to transact digital assets.In this major project report, we explore the NFT Marketplace and its underlying blockchain technology.We provide an overview of the platform's features, including the ability to tokenize any digital asset, create customizable smart contracts, and sell NFTs with low fees and instant trades.We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the platform, including its ease of use, potential for fraud, and scalability challenges.The Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have revolutionized the digital realm, redefining the concept of ownership and trade of unique digital assets.NFTs represent one-of-a-kind tokens, each verifiably and indelibly linked to a specific digital or physical asset, encompassing diverse forms of content, including video, audio, and images.These unique tokens have paved the way for creators to monetize their digital creations while providing collectors with an innovative means to invest, trade, and showcase their multimedia NFT collections.Central to the NFT ecosystem are NFT marketplaces, digital platforms designed to facilitate the creation, sale, and management of NFTs in various multimedia formats.These marketplaces have proliferated, providing creators with the means to mint NFTs, buyers with the opportunity to acquire them, and collectors with platforms to curate and trade their diverse NFT portfolios.We explore the multifaceted world of NFT marketplaces, focusing on their pivotal role in the creation, sale, and management of video, audio, and image NFTs.We analyze the economic implications, including pricing strategies and royalties, while addressing environmental sustainability concerns associated with NFTs.Challenges and opportunities encountered within this dynamic ecosystem are critically examined, including scalability, intellectual property rights, and the emergence of decentralized NFT marketplaces.Through in-depth case studies, we offer insights into the unique features and innovative approaches adopted by leading NFT marketplaces, shedding light on the transformative potential of this digital metaverse.This report serves as a valuable resource for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of NFT marketplaces catering to video, audio, and image NFTs, emphasizing the profound impact these tokens have on the creation, trade, and experience of digital content across various media formats.Navigating this dynamic digital frontier necessitates a nuanced perspective, and our survey aims to provide a holistic view of this rapidly evolving landscape.

Raffaele Ciriello, Alexandra Cecilie Gjøl Torbensen, Magnus Rotvit Perlt Hansen, Christoph Müller-Bloch

Abstract Initially designed to protect intellectual property (IP) of digitalized information goods such as music, games, or books, existing centralized digital rights management (DRM) systems mostly serve the interests of major publishers, with scant inclusion of rights owners, creators, and consumers. Although various blockchain-based DRM systems have been proposed, most of them mirror existing counterproductive IP restrictions. Analyzing the music industry as a case in point, this paper proposes design principles for blockchain-based DRM systems that provide an integrated and flexible solution by enabling transparent music licensing structures, consistent and complete rights metadata, and efficient and transparent royalty payout. The solution can be achieved by storing rights metadata on a public distributed ledger, by validating metadata through a consensus mechanism on a permissioned blockchain, and by algorithmically enforcing royalty payout via stablecoin through a smart contract. The design principles were evaluated by industry experts, validating their benefit for the music industry by increasing surplus value that is currently destroyed through previous suboptimal designs.

Zahr Said

In this chapter, I use methods drawn from literary analysis to bear on artificial scarcity and explore how literary and legal storytelling engages in scarcity mongering. I find three particular narrative strategies calculated to compel a conclusion in favor of propertization: the spectacle of need, the diversionary tactic, and the rallying cry. First, I unpack the spectacle of need and its diversionary aspects through several literary accounts of scarcity and starvation. I juxtapose Franz Kafka's "A Hunger Artist," a story explicitly centered on a wasting body, with J.M. Coetzee's The Life and Times of Michael K. Second, to explore how scarcity fables offer diversionary tactics that redirect attention away from actual scarcity, I consider NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. NFTs reflect the arbitrary value scarcity can produce, especially when artificially generated. Yet NFTs offer a spectacle of need that distracts from actual scarcity, riding a wave of expansionist property logic that suggests that more ownership is the answer. Third, to consider the scarcity fable's propertarian rallying cry, I offer an extended close reading of a copyright dispute, Leonard v. Stemtech, involving a pair of microscopic stem cell photographs deemed so scarce they were valued at 100 times their past licensing history. Leonard illustrates how a scarcity fable may look in the context of intellectual property ("IP"). The nature of this chapter is necessarily conceptual and speculative, designed to raise questions rather than attempting conclusively to answer them. Through juxtaposition of literary accounts and one legal case study, fables of scarcity emerge as a genre whose very appearance in certain contexts ought to give scholars and policymakers pause. In copyright litigation, in which expansionist property narratives may be especially harmful to the public domain and subsequent creators, scarcity fables may be made to provide apparent support for potentially dangerous changes. Identifying scarcity fables as such when they appear in copyright cases could trigger review of the asserted scarcity and a more searching inquiry into whether the proposed solution could worsen actual scarcity.