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Are you sure? Certainly the first person to buy a bored ape from BAYC, they definitely entered into a legal contract with BAYC that granted them a copyright li

Are you sure? Certainly the first person to buy a bored ape from BAYC, they definitely entered into a legal contract with BAYC that granted them a copyright license. But if you bought a Bored Ape NFT from someone else, did the sale contract you made with them definitely include another copyright license transfer? Or did you just buy an NFT? What if the previous owner of your Bored Ape, while they held the copyright, took it upon themselves to separately sell the copyright to someone else, so by the time you bought the NFT, they didn't even have the copyright any more? What if the previous owner of the Ape, as its copyright holder, and perhaps unknown to you, chose to release it to the public domain?

throw_nbvc1234 4y ago
I don't think they're transferring the copyright but granting IP and commercial rights to the NFT holder. As many of the other commenters are pointing out, this isn't the typical way NFT's work but some are like this. Just like some NFT's don't point to a url but either are stored on chain (cryptopunks) or via content-based addressing (IPFS hash). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220311005470/en/Yuga-Labs-Acquires-CryptoPunks-and-Meebits-from-Larva-Labs-Grants-IP-and-Commercial-Rights-to-Individual-Owners https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220311005470/en/Yug...
- jameshart 4y ago
  The problem is when you buy a second hand bored ape, you don’t have any direct contract with BAYC. They might be able to enforce terms of their original contract on the first party buyer - ‘once you sell the ape you no longer have this license’. But they have no contractual relationship (no ‘privity’) with you. Perhaps possession of the ape entitled you to go to BAYC and get a license contract? That’s great, so long as BAYC 1) continues to honor that agreement (and since you have no contract with them to begin with there’s nothing obliging them to do so) and 2) continues to exist. If they go under and their copyright in their apes gets auctioned off, good luck finding whoever acquired your ape and persuading them that since you own a hash in a blockchain they really have to grant you a license to use that ape.
  - lupire 4y ago
    No, BAYC license terms say that whoever owns the NFT has the commercialization rights. Now, all you have to legally is prove that you own the NFT, because theft and computer hacking aren't a legally accepted way to transfer ownership.
    - jameshart 4y ago
      so long as BAYC continue to honor that agreement. And as an owner of a second hand ape you have no legal recourse if they (or their successors, or their receivers during their bankruptcy) decide they no longer want to.
      - throw_nbvc1234 4y ago
        Is this fundamentally different then any other licensing agreement? Presumably if you want more security you'd get a lawyer and sign a contract but it's not something I've ever had to deal with before. If you think the company is going to go bankrupt then you probably wouldn't make the deal to begin with.
        jameshart 4y ago
        If you have purchased a license from a copyright holder, and then they go bust, and the copyright gets picked up in the ensuing fire sale by someone else, you still have the ability to go to the new rightsholder and say ‘hey, those rights were licensed to me, I plan on continuing to exercise them.’ But it is by no means clear that someone who bought an NFT from someone who bought an NFT from someone who bought an NFT from the original copyright holder has any basis for being able to expect the new holder of that copyright to continue to allow them to exercise the terms of the original license agreement made between the original seller and the original buyer.
gus_massa 4y ago
But they don't transfer the copyright! From https://boredapeyachtclub.com/#/terms https://boredapeyachtclub.com/#/terms > ii. Personal Use. Subject to your continued compliance with these Terms, Yuga Labs LLC grants you a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, and display the purchased Art, along with any extensions that you choose to create or use, solely forthe following purposes: (i) for your own personal, non-commercial use; (ii) as part of a marketplace that permits the purchase and sale of your Bored Ape / NFT [...] > iii. Commercial Use. Subject to your continued compliance with these Terms, Yuga Labs LLC grants you an unlimited, worldwide license to use, copy, and display the purchased Art for the purpose of creating derivative works based upon the Art (“Commercial Use”). Examples of such Commercial Use would e.g. be the use of the Art to produce and sell merchandise products (T-Shirts etc.) displaying copies of the Art. [...]

throw_nbvc1234 4y ago

I don't think they're transferring the copyright but granting IP and commercial rights to the NFT holder. As many of the other commenters are pointing out, this isn't the typical way NFT's work but some are like this. Just like some NFT's don't point to a url but either are stored on chain (cryptopunks) or via content-based addressing (IPFS hash). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220311005470/en/Yuga-Labs-Acquires-CryptoPunks-and-Meebits-from-Larva-Labs-Grants-IP-and-Commercial-Rights-to-Individual-Owners https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220311005470/en/Yug...

jameshart 4y ago
The problem is when you buy a second hand bored ape, you don’t have any direct contract with BAYC. They might be able to enforce terms of their original contract on the first party buyer - ‘once you sell the ape you no longer have this license’. But they have no contractual relationship (no ‘privity’) with you. Perhaps possession of the ape entitled you to go to BAYC and get a license contract? That’s great, so long as BAYC 1) continues to honor that agreement (and since you have no contract with them to begin with there’s nothing obliging them to do so) and 2) continues to exist. If they go under and their copyright in their apes gets auctioned off, good luck finding whoever acquired your ape and persuading them that since you own a hash in a blockchain they really have to grant you a license to use that ape.
- lupire 4y ago
  No, BAYC license terms say that whoever owns the NFT has the commercialization rights. Now, all you have to legally is prove that you own the NFT, because theft and computer hacking aren't a legally accepted way to transfer ownership.
  - jameshart 4y ago
    so long as BAYC continue to honor that agreement. And as an owner of a second hand ape you have no legal recourse if they (or their successors, or their receivers during their bankruptcy) decide they no longer want to.
    - throw_nbvc1234 4y ago
      Is this fundamentally different then any other licensing agreement? Presumably if you want more security you'd get a lawyer and sign a contract but it's not something I've ever had to deal with before. If you think the company is going to go bankrupt then you probably wouldn't make the deal to begin with.
      - jameshart 4y ago
        If you have purchased a license from a copyright holder, and then they go bust, and the copyright gets picked up in the ensuing fire sale by someone else, you still have the ability to go to the new rightsholder and say ‘hey, those rights were licensed to me, I plan on continuing to exercise them.’ But it is by no means clear that someone who bought an NFT from someone who bought an NFT from someone who bought an NFT from the original copyright holder has any basis for being able to expect the new holder of that copyright to continue to allow them to exercise the terms of the original license agreement made between the original seller and the original buyer.

gus_massa 4y ago

But they don't transfer the copyright! From https://boredapeyachtclub.com/#/terms https://boredapeyachtclub.com/#/terms > ii. Personal Use. Subject to your continued compliance with these Terms, Yuga Labs LLC grants you a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, and display the purchased Art, along with any extensions that you choose to create or use, solely forthe following purposes: (i) for your own personal, non-commercial use; (ii) as part of a marketplace that permits the purchase and sale of your Bored Ape / NFT [...] > iii. Commercial Use. Subject to your continued compliance with these Terms, Yuga Labs LLC grants you an unlimited, worldwide license to use, copy, and display the purchased Art for the purpose of creating derivative works based upon the Art (“Commercial Use”). Examples of such Commercial Use would e.g. be the use of the Art to produce and sell merchandise products (T-Shirts etc.) displaying copies of the Art. [...]