NFT tokens in the context of copyright on the works
Ekaterina A. Sviridova · Gosudarstvo i pravo · 2022
The article attempts to consider legal issues arising in connection with the use of blockchain technologies in the field of intellectual property rights to works of art. The article explores the essence of NFT tokens associated with copyright objects, analyzes alternative options for attributing them to the institute of real rights or intellectual property rights. The legal regime of certain types of tokens and their legal regulation in foreign legislation is considered. The conclusion is formulated that the NFT token is a digital confirmation of copyright related to a digital work. The current copyright regulations provide protection to the original work associated with the token, to the extent that protection is granted to works that exist in the real world. It is proposed to consider the NFT token registered in the blockchain registry as proof of the legitimacy of the copyright holder's title, the authenticity of the copy of the work and its origin (provenance). It is proved that the illegal issue of a token associated with a work, without the consent of the copyright holder of this work, should be recognized as the manufacture of a counterfeit copy of the work, and the person who illegally issued such a token is liable for creating a counterfeit copy of the work if it is possible to identify the subject of responsibility and there is evidence of his bad faith.