philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The ‘Can’t Be Evil’ NFT Licenses

... US copyright laws do not automatically grant buyers of artwork (both traditional and digital works) the right to reproduce, adapt, or even publicly display the artwork. Without a license or assignment of the copyright from the NFT creator, the buyer cannot exercise any of the rights under copyright (such as reproduction, adaptation, and public display) except through copyright exceptions such as “fair use” which are narrow and uncertain.  ...

Applying the “Can’t Be Evil” principle to NFT licenses

“Can’t Be Evil” is a guiding principle in web3 (and a riff on the “don’t be evil” slogan popularized by Google) arising from a new computational paradigm: blockchains are computers that can make strong commitments and that are not controlled by people.  ...

Instead, built-in mechanisms like cryptographic proofs distribute trust across participants and the rules of systems are baked into (and enforced by) code. As a result, no single person can manipulate these systems for their own benefit or affect them with a moral judgment. So, instead of trusting people or corporations to not be evil, we can ensure through code that they “can’t be evil.”  ...

Clear and understandable ...

Broadly applicable ...

Irrevocable by creators ...

Respectful of modifications and adaptations ...

Supportive of transparent sublicensing ...

Respectful of third-party content ...

Clarity of license ownership in the event of loss  ...

On-chain ...

To add a “Can’t Be Evil” license to your project, or innovate on them to meet the needs of your community, start with our GitHub repo. ...

See the full article here: https://a16zcrypto.com/introducing-nft-licenses/