Weekly IP Buzz for the Week Ending February 25, 2022
In this week's post, we see that the popularity of non-fungible tokens has finally caught up with it, ushering in a new era of copyright litigation and accompanying scams.
Also, since 2017, music star Taylor Swift has been involved in a protracted legal dispute over her 2014 song “Shake it Off, “ which came off her wildly popular album, 1984.
Non-Fungible Tokens and Copyrights: Is There Any IP in NFT Ownership?
Non-fungible tokens have become all the rage since its explosion in 2020. But since its emergence, non-fungible tokens have caused considerable confusion regarding ownership stake in related intellectual property because of the public’s misunderstanding of the rights conveyed with such purchase of non-fungible tokens. This confusion has led to a wave of intellectual property litigation such as claims of copyright infringement.
Earlier this year in January 2022, a decentralized autonomous organization, known as Spice DAO, paid over $3 million for an unpublished copy of the unpublished film, Dune. The purchase, which occurred at a Christie’s auction, stunned the world when the purchase price went for almost ninety times what experts had estimated for it to go.
Almost immediately after the purchase, Spice DAO publicly announced that it would make its own animated series based on the freshly purchased manuscript as well as allow derivative projects to be created by third parties. The tweet was met with almost universal ridicule as it was clear that Spice DAO did not understand how intellectual property ownership rights were legally conveyed.
Read the full article here.
Taylor Swift Fights Copyright Infringement Claims Regarding “Shake it Off”
Since 2017, music superstar Taylor Swift has been involved in a protracted legal dispute regarding her 2014 hit, “Shake it Off.” The lawsuit was originally filed by song lyricists Nathan Butler and Sean Hall over alleged copyright infringement of the lyrics of the song, “Playas Gon’ Play,” which was performed by female group 3LW.
Read more here.
Click to read the previous Weekly IP Buzz on Thriving Attorney: 2021 Year in Review IP Law and International Law
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In addition to publishing Thriving Attorney, Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. Click to read more about Darin Klemchuk's practice as an intellectual property lawyer. For more on the latest developments in IP law, see the blogs Ideate and IP Questions Answered.