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ARTICLE · 01 SEPTEMBER 2021

NFTs And Canadian Copyright Law

McMillan LLP
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Non-Fungible Tokens, or "NFTs", have garnered significant media attention, due largely to the high price tag attached to many NFT sales.

CanadaIntellectual Property
Kaleigh Zimmerman
Kaleigh Zimmerman
Peter Giddens
Peter Giddens
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Non-Fungible Tokens, or "NFTs", have garnered significant media attention, due largely to the high price tag attached to many NFT sales. Famously, an NFT of Beeple's digital artwork was auctioned off for $69 million USD through Christie's Auction House.1 NFTs are now being sold by artists, musicians, sports leagues, fashion designers, and more. In spite of their increase in popularity, some confusion still surrounds the intellectual property rights associated with the purchase of an NFT.

To read more about the potential securities law considerations of NFTs, please see our firm's bulletin on that topic, found here.

What is an NFT?

An NFT is a digital certificate of certain rights associated with an asset. An NFT is composed of (1) a base that consists of cryptocurrency transformed into a non-currency token, (2) a digital file and (3) a series of smart contracts2 governing the rights associated with the NFT. When these three components are combined,

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The foregoing provides only an overview and does not constitute legal advice. Readers are cautioned against making any decisions based on this material alone. Rather, specific legal advice should be obtained.

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