Blockchain and the Law

Tag Archives: NFTs

District Court Declines to Dismiss NFT “Insider Trading” Indictment against Former OpenSea Employee

In late October, a New York district court refused to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment against defendant Nathaniel Chastain, who was charged with wire fraud and money laundering relating to his using insider knowledge to purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) prior to them being featured on OpenSea, an online NFT marketplace, and later selling … Continue Reading

Rise of Financial Crime in the NFT Market Elicits New Scrutiny from Regulators

With the enduring popularity of certain NFTs and the promise of their use in the Metaverse and beyond, the hype around the new technology has been accompanied by rising concerns over NFTs being the centerpiece of traditional financial crimes like money laundering and wire fraud.  For example, on June 30th, 2022 the Justice Department indicted … Continue Reading

Senators Ask USPTO and US Copyright Office to Conduct NFT Study, with a Focus on IP Issues

UPDATE: On July 8, 2022,  the USPTO and the Copyright Office responded to the Senators’ letter and indicated that they would conduct a joint study on the current and potential future applications of NFTs and their respective IP-related challenges. With a market capitalization forecast of over $35 billion for 2022, there is no question that … Continue Reading

As NFTs Blur the Line Between “Receipt” and “Product”, Trademarks Owners Fight Over New Virtual Markets

Last month, our post about art NFTs and the DMCA highlighted the distinction between non-fungible tokens and the copyrighted works they represent. In the context of copyright, this dichotomy is generally uncontroversial: In most cases, an NFT merely points to an underlying work but does not contain a copy of the work it represents, and … Continue Reading

Will NFT Piracy Compel Changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?

So you bought an NFT. You now own what is effectively an immutable electronic deed meant to record ownership of an asset, often a digital artwork. You probably paid for the NFT upfront—and if the artist is popular, you may have paid a substantial sum. This is one factor that has made the NFT market … Continue Reading
LexBlog

This website uses third party cookies, over which we have no control. To deactivate the use of third party advertising cookies, you should alter the settings in your browser.

OK