NFTs and Rights Clearance: Due Diligence, Transfer of Rights, NIL, Terms of Service

Of Counsel Andy Lee will participate in the live webinar “NFTs and Rights Clearance: Due Diligence, Transfer of Rights, NIL, Terms of Service” hosted by Strafford Publications on Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Everything is being tokenized and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have exploded in popularity. More and more industries are recognizing the benefits of NFTs. Almost $41 billion was reportedly spent on NFTs in 2021 and that number is growing. While NFTs have presented opportunities for IP owners, they have also resulted in potential problems.

Rights clearance is an essential step when considering licensing. It is important to have the right to create an NFT associated with the underlying asset. If there is no right, the right must be obtained before creating, licensing, or selling the NFT.

Among the key considerations when clearing rights is a thorough due diligence to verify what rights to the content exist and what steps need to be taken to get the necessary permissions to gain the rights. Further, if the NFT depicts a name, image, or likeness (NIL), it is important to understand the various governing laws and policies in order to assure compliance.

The panelists will examine the key considerations related to rights clearance and NFTs, including the rights in the underlying asset, transfer of rights, NIL, and terms of service as well as offering best practices for rights clearance.

Some of the key issues that will be covered include:

• What factors should be considered when determining whether to create an NFT? What steps should counsel take to ensure the creator or seller of the NFT has rights in the underlying asset?
• What rights need to be cleared to sell an NFT?
• If a creator does not have the right to mint an NFT, what action should be taken to obtain the rights needed to create and sell the NFT?

After the presentation, panelists will engage in a live question and answer session with participants. For more information and to register please visit the Strafford Publications website.