IP Law NFT

[Andromed4]

I have a question about copyright and IP law infringement consisting of NFTs. Can you just make an NFT from a painting that you have painted from an image from the google database, even if you have "copy" painted it yourself with maybe some differences in color, size etc. Or may you only use / combine unlicensed images or paintings. I am seriously looking for someone who can tell me more about this before I start minting content.

Help much appreciated, not here to steal art.

Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong topic.

Thnx in advance!

[jackg]

Not really. You can't normally use someone else's work and sell it on as your own if you've painted it or something and it has been copywritten (if it's specifically been placed in the public domain - ie hasn't been copywritten then you can copy it - copyright is automatic, if you can't see a license the creator will likely still be protected).

Whether copyright is actually something possible to be enforced in this way might be unclear (especially if you're copying something that has been taken a lot of times - and you merge perspectives - but then it's probably easy enough to find a copyright free version).

There are a lot of stock images and places you can go to get images (and rights purchases may be cheap too) then they'll be available to be used for nfts.

[hatshepsut93]

Nothing can stop you from creating an NFT, because it's a token that exists on decentralized blockchain. But your NFT might get removed from sites that list them, because those are centralized. And the author of the original work could sue you, and then it will be up to the court to decide if that's plagiarism or not, and I'm sure that in many jurisdictions you would lose such case, because you clearly profited from using someone's work without permission if you sell such NFT.

[pooya87]

A court has to decide this and it depends on the jurisdictions and the laws of that country.

Technically you would be selling copyrighted material and that is illegal.
But also technically NFT tokens don't really have anything to do with what you are selling since they are just tokens without any relationships with the copyrighted material apart from what you claim!

For example if you say that this hash (9c1a66debeea8219c72c359bfaba4e0d62f9d36e29542ef5507bec4961b74248) is the Mona Lisa painting and fool an idiot to pay you for it, that doesn't mean you actually sold that idiot the actual painting. You sold them dog shit in truth but still in some laws this is considered a crime since it is an obvious scam.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Maybe if you are into country that is strict. But since nft is govern on decentralized space of crypto, Im not sure if there will be legal penalty for that, and just like you said only with some differences on size, color, or anything that make it distinct from the original. But if you observed nfts on crypto, almost all are the same that eventually its hard to know which one is the original basis of the art.

[odolvlobo]

I have a question about copyright and IP law infringement consisting of NFTs. Can you just make an NFT from a painting that you have painted from an image from the google database, even if you have "copy" painted it yourself with maybe some differences in color, size etc. Or may you only use / combine unlicensed images or paintings. I am seriously looking for someone who can tell me more about this before I start minting content.

An NFT associated with an image is not the image itself. So, when you buying or selling an NFT, you are not buying or selling the image. You are buying or selling a token. If you display a copy of an image to sell the NFT and you don't have the right to use the image, then you are probably violating copyright law.

Making an imperfect or altered copy of an image probably still violates the law though there are exceptions.

IANAL

[aysg76]

See if you are trying to sell some images through Google art by painting it doesn't make it your original art and selling NFT is not that much easy as it might seems to be.First of all if you are good at painting then there are platforms that will allow you to list your art as an NFT over there based on which chain you are interested in.

So if you say about IP then like this is the current debatable topic in the NFT space and certain companies have delegated the rights to holders like Yuga labs for cryptopunks and they can use it anywhere and companies can contact them directly for promotions if you ask for such things but generally it's with the central authority only.

Google has not listed them as NFT tokens but still you violate the rights if you have not contacted them and it's punishable so don't involve in such cases.

[Andromed4]

Oke this is good to know, thank you all for the replies. 

[Silberman]

Nothing can stop you from creating an NFT, because it's a token that exists on decentralized blockchain. But your NFT might get removed from sites that list them, because those are centralized. And the author of the original work could sue you, and then it will be up to the court to decide if that's plagiarism or not, and I'm sure that in many jurisdictions you would lose such case, because you clearly profited from using someone's work without permission if you sell such NFT.

This seems to me to be the correct answer, if the OP became successful and made a lot of money out of his NFTs then the artists or the ones holding the rights to those works will eventually find him and sue him, so with this in mind it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do something like this when you could take the legal route and create your own content to monetize, and if someone can’t do this then I don’t understand why they’re trying to create NFT's at all.

[serjent05]

I think anything that is on the public domain is free to use without the need of consent from the owner.  It is clearly stated on this article[1]  works of all media (books, images, audio-video recordings etc) as long as it is on the public domain are not protected by copyright law.  This quoted statement from the article clearly explained it.

Q: What is the public domain? What works are considered part of the public domain?

A: The public domain refers to the collection of works that are not protected by copyright, and may be used free of charge and without the permission of the creator or rights holder. Works of all media (books, images, audio-video recordings, etc.) are considered to be in the public domain when they are not subject to copyright protection.

Ideas: Copyright protects the expression of an idea but not the idea itself. Copyright is only available to an idea that is expressed in a fixed form (i.e. paper or electronic media).

Facts: As with ideas, copyright subsists only in the expression of facts within a work, and not the facts themselves. The facts cited in a newspaper article, for example, are public domain, and can be re-used provided that the re-use does not copy the way the author of the article has expressed them.

Works whose copyright has expired:  There are statutory rules to determine when copyright protection of a work comes to an end. Copyright protection – the legal right to reproduce, publish, and sell a work – expires after a period following the death of the work’s author/creator. In Canada, the copyright for a work typically expires 50 years after the death of its creator. After this period has elapsed, the author’s works become public domain.

So with your question, as long as the art is not listed in the public domain or not originally created by you, then you need consent from the owner to use it. 



[1] https://copyright.info.yorku.ca/public-domain-content/#:~:text=A%3A%20The%20public%20domain%20refers,the%20creator%20or%20rights%20holder.

[Maus0728]

You can produce your own masterpiece or NFT that is inspired by the works of other people, but you shouldn't outright duplicate someone else's artwork, as previous members have noted. By this, I mean that you are drawing inspiration for your concept or idea from a variety of sources and artists who you feel fit your style.

Because you can't actually build stuff out of nothing, it's similar to a puzzle where you study the background and the method involved and then come up with something on your own. For instance, consider Vincent Van Gogh's artwork, which was influenced by Japanese prints^[1].

I personally keep a library of images of women in various poses that I always use as a reference when making splash arts. Don't be afraid to use platforms like Artstation, Pinterest, and Behance to get an inspiration from multiple artists as well.
[1] https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories/inspiration-from-japan?v=1#0