The latest report by the Higher Council for Literary and Artistic Property (CSPLA), which is responsible for advising the Ministry of Culture, warns against NFTs. These non-reproducible digital certificates of authenticity attached to a real or virtual object can be a risk to intellectual property. This is one of the first reports to discuss the subject in France.
Its authors, Jean Martin, lawyer of the Court, president of the CSPLA mission, assisted by Pauline Hot, master of requests of the Council of State, held about sixty hearings with professionals and organizations concerned with this ” complex” subject. .
NFTs have been around for years, but interest in them has grown with several sales, including in December 2021 Beeple’s work, which sold for $69.3 million. Since then, auction houses and galleries have been involved in this new market, shaking up the art world.
These certificates raise “unpublished questions” about intellectual property, the ownership of rights, their management method, note the authors who propose to call them “JNF” in French ( for “non-fungible tokens”).
They also asked many questions about the use of this technology in public collections, characterized by their immutability, or about the applicable financial and tax framework or the status of the platforms.
For the authors, if the “JNF” constitutes “an opportunity for the cultural sector as a whole”, their use should be better “guarded” in “a speculative and uncertain financial context which tends to alienate the prospects for cultural development”.
An “essential issue” is related, according to them, to “the annoyance of digital platforms where JNFs are exchanged” which must “ensure respect for literary and artistic property”.
They propose to subject them to the 2019 European directive on copyright and related rights in the digital single market.
The authors also point out the “energy-intensive nature of the blockchain” (the technology that serves as the basis especially for cryptocurrencies), the “many risks for the security of tokens”, and the “speculative nature of the market” observed. within the “last 18 months”.
They also believe that “consumer protection against this multiple and complex technological phenomenon remains inadequate”.