We discuss the concept of NFT royalties, a key feature of non-fungible tokens intended to automatically compensate the original creator each time their digital asset is resold. While the NFT market experienced a boom in 2021, driven by speculation and high-profile sales, that intense craze has since diminished, though certain projects have seen recent resurgence. The text notes that NFTs serve as a digital title or unique identifier that can represent ownership of both digital art and potentially physical items, offering verifiable provenance and reducing the possibility of counterfeiting. However, the promising royalty feature is facing challenges, as some marketplaces are reportedly removing or not honoring these programmed payments to reduce fees and enhance competitiveness. Despite current setbacks with digital art NFTs, the text expresses hope for the future, suggesting that as the economy becomes more digitized, NFTs could become integral to digital wallets for representing ownership of personal goods and ensuring creator compensation upon resale.
Imagine a unique digital stamp on a blockchain, like a certificate of authenticity and ownership for something special, digital or even real-world. When you own an NFT, you possess that specific digital stamp, not necessarily the copyright to the artwork or item it represents. Think of it like owning a signed print – you have the print, but the artist still owns the image's copyright.
Whether you can use the associated content commercially depends on the project's rules. Copyright and trademarks are separate, so someone creating an NFT of copyrighted material without permission could be in trouble. Sometimes, creators get a cut when their NFTs are resold, but this isn't always the case.
NFTs are popping up everywhere, from games and virtual land to tickets and even tracking goods. But there are tricky questions around who owns what, especially when NFTs are resold. Legal rules are still catching up with this new technology, making things a bit complex.
