A guide to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), 2023 - Flipbook - Page 16
Intellectual property rights
Types of intellectual property (IP) rights involved with NFTs
The most important type of IP for NFTs is copyright. Closely interlinked
with copyright are the moral rights of the author. This note focuses
mainly on copyright, as this is likely to be of most significance.
There are other types of IP which may potentially be involved but these will
generally not be as central to NFTs as copyright and moral rights. In roughly
descending order of anticipated importance, the other possible IP rights are:
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Performers’ rights
Database rights
Design rights
Confidential information
(including inventions, trade secrets, and know-how)
Patents
Trade marks
There are also other civil rights that are not IP rights but that may be involved
in some specific NFTs. These include royalty resale rights, personal data
protection and privacy rights (including, potentially, image rights), rights in
domain names, the tort of deceit (such as passing off) and even economic
torts, such as interference with contract. With the exception of artists’ royalty
resale rights, these rights are not dealt with further in this note. Also not dealt
with in this note is the possibility of criminal liability arising from an NFT that,
for example, incites racial hatred.
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