Digital Commons Network^™

Head In The Bitcloud: A Discussion On The Copyrightability And Ownership Rights In Generative Digital Art And Non-Fungible Tokens, Amanda J. Sharp

San Diego Law Review

This Comment discusses three major copyright questions raised by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) creation and distribution in the digital art world. First, how does employing AI in the creation of generative and derivative digital art and NFTs affect the copyright requirements of authorship? Second, who is the rightful owner of an NFT image pre- and post-purchase? Finally, how does the first sale doctrine apply to NFT image purchases and are those protections enough to resolve future copyright-specific NFT claims? In Part I, an introductory example is laid out to showcase the complex issues generative and derivative digital art and NFT images …