Why is IP the Secret Weapon for NFT Breakthrough in Web3 Mass Adoption?
The NFT boom in 2021 has helped push the concept of Web3 from a niche market into a true phenomenon, giving the industry hope for Web3 mass adoption. Yet despite the growing public familiarity with NFT over the past year, the vision remains a vision and appears difficult to realize still. Though it is certain that if there is a slightest chance that Web3 can become universally adopted regardless of all the hardships, NFT would be the one that is most likely to get the job done; the NFT can hardly do it alone. In MixMarvel’s opinion, to achieve the purpose, IP must be leveraged properly to exert its advantage in assisting NFT to perform better.
From IP to Collective Ownership
Intellectual property (or briefly as IP) has long been recognized as a necessary legal protection for any “creation of the mind.” It prevents others from profiting from or taking undue credit for something they did not create and is an inherent right that can not be waived. Nonetheless, as the decentralized Web3 world evolves, new IP licenses that allow NFT creators to voluntarily give up all or part of the copyrights emerge, and collective ownership begins to play a role.
Currently, there are two types of new IP licenses that the creators may consider. One is the CC0 license. CC0, also known as the Creative Commons, stands for “no rights reserved” on intellectual property. By consenting to such a license, the creator permits NFT buyers to build upon or rework the NFT for any purpose — whether that means duplicating, branding, or marketing it.
Another more eclectic approach is a restricted license. This license grants power to the holders free of charge under certain conditions, with copyright retained within the hand of the creators, so that the holders are entitled to sufficient rights to use the NFT for their own purposes, and the NFT’s scarcity is ensured for the creator’s good as well.
Collective Ownership Advances Web3 Mass Adoption
The collective ownership that the new IP licenses have brought to NFT demonstrates many advantages in terms of empowering large communities and attracting more people to the Web3 space. First and foremost, it motivates co-creation and collectivity, which are the most important factors in the popularization of anything. With IP assets and tools provided by the project officials, community members can generate and distribute infinitely scalable content. No upper limit or constraint is set, hence sufficient room for countless newcomers to achieve their endless innovation is ensured.
Collective ownership also exemplifies Web3’s power-to-the-people design by ensuring and reinforcing the NFT collectors’ full rights as decision-makers. In Web2, as the creations are often owned by individuals or a company, their brands and symbolic meanings (if any) are often pre-determined internally before launching or publishing. The marketing team then sells the project to a so-called “targeted audience” who resonates with the brand image. As a result, the user or purchaser community often consists of predictable members that are highly consensual but poorly diversified.
With collectivity facilitated in the Web3 space, the NFT and every additional meaning attached to it can no longer be controlled by any company or exclusive group. For instance, if more people decide to open a BAYC-themed restaurant as Andy Nguyen has done, BAYC may soon become an icon of food and form a community of chefs and food lovers even though it may not be what the creators desired. Being able to reflect the wishes of every member of the community, the NFT demonstrates each member’s equal right over collectively-owned content and will almost certainly attract more people to narrate their own stories.
The combination of IP renewal and NFT can accomplish even more beyond collective ownership. For example, by storing and distributing licensed content on chains in the form of NFT, the long, tiring IP licensing procedure is transformed into a quick, transparent experience, enabling greater and easier business opportunities for any who intends to make a profit. MixMarvel is confident that, with more community members attracted and more business value revealed, NFT will be more capable than ever of advancing Web3 mass adoption and guiding a promising Web3 future for all involved.
About MixMarvel
MixMarvel is the world’s leading blockchain content-incubation platform and creators community. By in-depth exploring the open world and integrating world-renowned IP with high-quality content, MixMarvel connects investors and mass users through asset distribution, content publication, DeFi tools, infrastructure, community co-creation, and other diversified scenarios in a new ecosystem of dapps. Its ecosystem comprises a broad portfolio of FT/NFT assets, including the MIX, RPG, and HEROES tokens; blockchain content, including the GameFi application DeHero; and infrastructures, including Rangers Protocol and MixMarvel SDK. For more information, visit https://linktr.ee/MIXMARVEL.
