The Blockchain: A Solution for IP Licensing and Tracking
As the gaming industry evolves, new technologies such as blockchain can disrupt traditional intellectual property rights management models.
In this discussion, we will explore the potential benefits and drawbacks of using blockchain in gaming IP management and how creators can leverage blockchain technology to unlock new opportunities and business models for game developers, publishers, and players alike.
In this panel discussion, the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) is joined by: Florence Houisse, an IP Attorney and Partner at Kern & Weyl with a wealth of experience in IP licensing within the video game industry. With obvious bridges between video gaming and blockchain, Florence specializes in advising game companies on IP protection.
Amine Boubrik, CEO and Founder of Gokaden, a decentralized entertainment platform that brings together artists, fans, and creators to collaborate and build multimedia franchises from the bottom up using blockchain technology. Gokenden is a platform on which artists are able to share their IP with a global fan base while ensuring their creative IP.
Lida Tang, Co-founder and CTO at Spaceport.xyz, an IP licensing platform for web3 that helps creators, brands, and agencies to monetize their IPs. Spaceport’s mission is to bring recognizable IPs and brands into web3 with a focus on gaming.
Sections:
1. IP licensing for games
2. Ownership of IP and blockchain tools
3. Tracking and monetization
1. IP licensing for games
How can studios protect their game?
One of the first things to do is to register the name and trademarking logo to protect them, thus preventing third parties from using the same name and logo for similar products and services.
The next, more complex step, recommends IP Attorney, Florence Houisse, is that while original video games can be protected by copyright, each component can and should be individually protected; this can include a number of creations such as graphics, music, interface, and even character names.
Additionally, game studios need to utilize appropriate agreements to secure ownership and copyright for the different elements of the game:
First, studios will need to determine the creation process and which type of agreement they will need to enter into.
Secondly, for any creator, keeping, recording, and maintaining the creation process is crucial — this will help determine and demonstrate ownership. Blockchain can help create a transparent process for creators. IP firms are starting to encourage clients to leverage the blockchain to document their processes since it offers a cost-effective and transparent method of recording events. Registering and minting every creation into a digital asset creates a stamp of ownership that enables blockchain to facilitate a transparent creation process. Such steps are beginning to become recognized as evidence across some jurisdictions worldwide. Although not all legal structures yet accept this form of ledger, it is certainly becoming widely used to evidence timelines of creative processes. It is especially useful when it comes to collaborative work.
2. Ownership of IP and blockchain tools
There are many conversations around what NFT ownership really means. Could you really claim ownership of what you have inside your NFT in terms of the creative IP?
Lida from Spaceport explains the two aspects NFT buyers, investors, or collectors need to approach this: From a technical perspective, what you own on the blockchain is the ability to buy and sell. From a creative point of view, what rights were granted to the buyer when they purchased the NFT; this is in itself is a licensing agreement with the creator- and from a creative perspective, Lida advises buyers to ‘DYOR’ (do your own research), by checking the terms and conditions which is not information attached to the NFT purchased on the blockchain. This information is generally found on the original project’s website and will determine whether the owner actually has any rights to the artwork or simply the title of ownership.
We’ve looked at Efficiency, transparency, Transparent, immutability, and what can be the benefit of using the blockchain for IPs.
“First, we need to know what — which is the underlying asset. The most important thing is when you want to license the underlying assets, the piece of art, to make money from it, either by bringing it to collaborative work such as a game or by flipping it. The real answer is when the asset was created, and the blockchain is the most substantial proof to validate ownership.”
Amine | Gokaden
It enables independent creators to time stamp their work without requiring large amounts of documentation and the cost of lawyers. Anyone can access the blockchain to register and timestamp their creative IP.
Who owns the land, the mods, and user-generated content?
If nothing is included in the publisher or game studio’s terms and conditions, then the rights belong to the users, even if publishers provide them with editing tools, these conditions need to be specified.
For mods (modifications), a recent precedent was set in French case law, concluding that in-game modifications belong to the publisher, and it is the same for NFTs. Users can find these details in the T&Cs on the project’s website or in the conditions of the DAO. Users need to check, and studios need to pay specific attention to this area, advised Florence. This is the current situation, and regulations will evolve and change.
While you can prove your ownership on the blockchain, do you need the traditional licensing market to agree with blockchain technology to approve digital rights ownership?
In terms of Traditional licensing, the marketplace is done through a lot of paperwork and lawyers, and blockchain has an opportunity to eradicate some of the inefficiencies of traditional licensing, explains Lida, but blockchain technology on its own needs to comply with the broader legal structure that already exists for licensing. We still need to figure out how to get them to recognize what is on-chain as legal proof, so while we can register things ourselves, we still need to interface with the relevant legal structures.
To bring a twist to that, Amine adds, when talking about larger studios, you cannot simply produce a timestamped NFT and claim ownership. However, there is already a use case for this starting to be adopted inside companies. This is where blockchain proof of ownership can eliminate some friction, especially between independent creators and large studios regarding collaborative work, giving freelancers and individual creators more security if they can register assets on the blockchain.
3. Tracking and monetization
How can blockchain improve IP tracking rights?
There are two sides to this, the Licensor and the Licensee.
On the licensor side, blockchain provides traceability and immutability for IP holders once they start giving out exclusive deals for different regions, for example.
Tracking becomes a real problem in traditional licensing. Blockchain enables traceability which provides visibility to all parties involved, and in the future it will be possible to automate that process.
As a licensee, tracking on the blockchain gives you a chain of custody that traces your product to further products downstream. Especially as IPs become re-mixed, having full transparency, the blockchain is a powerful tool to ensure that you receive the correct royalties for your contribution while giving enough flexibility to fuse your product into other products.
This is precisely what Gokaden is working on solving. Amine explains further that on their platform, artists can bring their IP to mint on the platform as an NFT and then license it out for further work. Artists receive rewards for bringing their work onto the platform in the form of royalties, which are then dispersed in a completely transparent and immutable way. Users are free from this process as parameters are predetermined, and they can then license it to the collaborative work in the playground, as it is known on the platform. This makes the process frictionless for two reasons. One is that the platform is designed to be transparent and online, and two, that the technology under the hood, the blockchain, makes this possible to share outside of the platform so that the work is online and on-chain.
You provide a diversity of solutions to monetize IP, including gaming. What specific application of blockchain can be used with regard to licensing content in relation to your activities?
There are two aspects to this, explains Lida, Inbound and outbound:
Inbound licensing: looking for licensing, for example, apparel, bringing new revenue opportunities for those digital assets and new users that property is now on your platform.
Outbound licensing: If you have created a cool character, you want to license it out, which is an outbound licensing deal. Right now, gaining visibility and knowing who you can license from is a challenge. Blockchain solutions make it easier to find out and have this global transparent data. So when you put an IP out for licensing on a platform on the blockchain, anyone can license it, and anyone can know that you are interested in licensing and that you have a product and IP. This is a significant advantage of blockchain that is hard for web2 to compete with.
What do you find the most exciting about the future of IP licensing?
“There is so much to be excited about; blockchain enables collaboration and user-generated, switching that into user-owned content, enabling creators to be fairly compensated for their contribution to work.”
Lida Tang | Spaceport“It’s still very early for this industry. With each new project, there are new legal issues to answer. From an industry perspective, for brands, it will be a great new way of marketing to allow small brands to have a massive audience for their creations. It is wonderful for creators and digital artists to monetize their work, providing platforms that make it easy for them to receive royalties. It’s a new world, and it’s really exciting!”
Florence Houisse | Kern & Weyl
You can catch the full replay here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkdgY3WB9lQ
About the Blockchain Game Alliance.
The Blockchain Game Alliance is committed to promoting blockchain within the game industry. We aim to spread awareness of blockchain technologies and encourage adoption by highlighting their potential to foster new ways to create, publish, play, and build strong communities around games.
The BGA provides an open forum for individuals and companies to share knowledge, collaborate, network, create common standards, and establish best practices.
If you would like to find out more about the Blockchain Game Alliance and our activities, you can follow the links below:
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