NFT giant Yuga Labs clears up confusion about its NFTs IP license and commercial rights with the help of Copyright and IP lawyer Jeremy Goldman.
Jeremy Goldman stated “What is not needed for copyright ownership is a copyright registration,” while noting that Yuga Labs owns the copyright in the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection.
The discussion on Yuga Labs IP rights is getting heated as the Ryder Ripps lawsuit unfolds. Recently, Yuga Labs admitted in new court documents that it does not have ‘copyright registrations’ for the 10,000 images in the BAYC collection.
Like Goldman, Yuga stated that the registration of a copyright is not required to hold and own the copyright. A user only needs to register a copyright when they plan to take legal action against someone.
“The sine qua non of copyright is originality,” and the “requisite level of creativity is extremely low.” I don’t think it’s debatable whether the BAYC artwork “possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity,” Goldman added.
Goldman stated that copyright also requires human authorship, and in the case of BAYC, humans performed the “lion’s share” of the work and ignited the project’s “creative spark.”
The copyright and IP lawyer added copyright arises automatically the moment an original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
“In short, Yuga, like all creators, owns the copyright in their artwork regardless of whether they went through the administrative slog of registration,” Goldman asserted.
The lawyer states that Yuga has the right to use and grant permission for anyone to utilize the BAYC artwork as the copyright owner.
Goldman says Yuga exercised its copyright by conveying to BAYC holders two separate property rights: ownership of the digital artwork, and a broad license to exploit that digital artwork.
He says that Yuga’s updated CryptoPunks license is more thorough, including explicitly saying that the grant of rights is “exclusive”, but the essence of the two licenses is the same.
Also Read: Yuga Labs Release IP Rights Agreement for CryptoPunks & Meebits
Yuga Labs’ copyright protects the digital artwork connected to BAYC NFTs, and BAYC NFT holders are given ownership of the artwork and a license to use it for both commercial and non-commercial uses, he added.
Goldman concluded by saying “Hopefully, this post sheds some light on the complex issues arising at the intersection of IP and NFTs and helps clarify once and for all the IP rights that holders get with their BAYC NFTs.”
