Can anyone mint NFTs ? — Part I
Minting NFTs
Creating an NFT is a very easy process that needs little to no amount of technical know-how compared to its underlying tech. Technically, anyone could make an NFT — by coding it themselves, or by using services such as those provided by NFT marketplaces which might only require you to connect your crypto wallet and pay a fee to mint it.
However, the elephant in the room is — is everyone allowed to mint NFTs of artwork? Currently, there’s no law that explicitly states who can and cannot mint an NFT. However, since NFTs being discussed in this blog relate to artwork, and its use is governed by copyright law, we may find the answer to the question by exploring copyright law and its application on NFTs.
What is Copyright ?
“Copyright” means the right to copy. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, is an international agreement governing copyright, first accepted in 1886. It is applicable to the 181 countries which have accepted it. According to the Berne Convention, copyright includes a bundle of exclusive rights, granted by law, to the copyright owners to protect their work. As per this instrument, protection is extended to every literary, scientific, and artistic production, whatever the mode or form of its expression. Subject to certain allowed reservations, the convention provides the rights of the authors or artists that must be recognized as exclusive rights of authorization. Therefore, copyright includes:
a) The right to reproduce and make copies of an original work;
b) The right to prepare derivative works based on the original work;
c) The right to distribute copies to the public by sale or another form of transfer, such as rental or lending;
d) The right to publicly perform the work;
e) The right to publicly display the work, and
f) The right to perform sound recordings publicly through digital audio transmission.
Who holds the Copyright ?
The moment an artwork is created, it is automatically copyright protected. Ideally it is the author of the work who enjoys copyright, where they have the exclusive right to do the things listed above. However, the author may assign their copyright to someone else. This can be exclusive or shared. I.e., you may choose to share the right to make copies of the art, through a license. Or you may choose to assign the copyright completely to someone else, after which you as the author will no longer hold the copyright (The author will retain the moral rights. It is the economic rights that are transferable).
For e.g. –
In the context of NFTs, if the right to mint were to form part of copyright, and if you have assigned the copyright completely to another, that person has the exclusive right to mint NFTs.
And it’s a wrap
Now that you have a handle on what copyright is, let’s take a look at the connection between Copyright and NFTs, and how this plays a role in whether you can mint NFTs of artwork.
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