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Non-fungible Tokens, NFTs, gave the promise of increased income and a secure line of ownership to digital art creators. The idea was presented as a way for digital artists to reap the benefits of income and ownership that physical artists enjoy. This promised to elevate their work and to reduce copyright infringement by establishing a secure chain of ownership and proof of creation. Thus far, NFTs have failed to deliver on this promise, and in their current state, they are at best an experiment in the application of blockchain technology. At worst, they are a fad or even a fraud.
Jonathan Bailey outlines the rise and promise of NFTs in his article, “NFTs and Copyright”, which appeared in the March 16, 2021 edition of Plagiarism Times. Although NFTs have existed since 2017, they took the world by storm in 2021 with famous artists, such as Beeple, CEOs such as Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and celebrities such as William Shatner, selling NFTs for millions of dollars. The word “non-fungible” means that something is not interchangeable, implying uniqueness. However, on the current NFT exchanges, anything can be tokenized, including URLs, images, and tweets. When something is tokenized a transaction is created on a blockchain. This makes the token unique, but only the token is unique. The original work that the token is linked to can be duplicated again and again.
Furthermore, the token does not confer ownership of the original work. When the token is sold, the original content can still be copied or owned by someone else. This creates ethical and copyright issues. These issues arise when people, or at times bots, tokenize and sell content they do not own. Some NFT exchanges attempt to prohibit unauthorized NFT sales, but many do not. This is copyright infringement and theft. A further ethical problem arises when NFTs are misrepresented to unknowing buyers. Many buyers believe they own the artwork or its copyright rather than just a transaction on a blockchain. Ultimately, it is a buyer’s responsibility to learn, however deliberate deception is ethically wrong.
NFTs could achieve their original promise and provide digital artists with income and protection; however, it would take a different implementation than what is now being pursued. In its current form, the NFT market will require artist and buyer protections or it will likely fade as another passing fad.