The Age Of NFTs: Copyright Prospects And Challenges

INTRODUCTION

In April 2021, the artwork of an important 20th-century African-American artist, named Jean-Michel Basquiat drew huge public attention, at least in the United States. A non-fungible token (NFT) had been made of the work and was put up for sale by Daystorm, an art collection agency.¹ The attention received was however due to the accompanying announcement that the sale would also give the new owner the choice to destroy the original work if so desired. These concerns led the agency managing the artwork on behalf of Basquiat's estate to declare that the Daystorm only owned the physical copy, not the copyright of the work.

The buzz around NFTs suggests legal questions as to the rights of owners of these NFTs under copyright laws. To explore this, this article examines the nature of an NFT in a bid to understand the technical aspect that would enable law enthusiasts to correctly analyze IP concerns and, how this technology affects common copyright