Original Title: On-chain Intellectual Property: The Future Direction
Original Author: 0xd745
The developer relations of FLock.io, timtimtim.eth, starts by addressing the pain points of traditional copyright, analyzing why we need to revolutionize copyright, and dissecting the relationship between blockchain and IP as well as the Story Protocol, proposing their own vision for on-chain copyright solutions.
I recently saw that Story raised $54 million and it reminded me of this project, haha. I've seen it before, and then it seems like there hasn't been much news. As for the reason for writing this long article, it's mainly because my master's research direction is in this area. So, let's just chat briefly about it, after all, I'm not studying law, I just looked at copyright law for my thesis. Before getting to the point, I've been thinking recently, so I'll just casually write a long article, write what I want to write, and if you want to read it, go ahead, I don't really care, haha.
What is Copyright?
In-depth exploration of intellectual property and its multiple subfields, especially copyright, and the related rights and obligations. We will also discuss how these legal concepts operate globally.
Now, let's get to the point and start with copyright and intellectual property. Copyright and intellectual property (IP) are actually more complex than you might imagine. Intellectual property is a collection of multiple legal concepts, including but not limited to copyright, trademarks, and patents. These legal concepts are used to prove the rights of creators in some way. As the owner of intellectual property, you can sell, transfer, or manage the rights under these legal concepts. You may see us talking about copyright, and you might be confused at this point.
Copyright: Copyright is a legal protection mechanism for creative works such as literature, art, and music. It grants the creator exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, display, and modify the work, usually for a certain period of time.
Trademark: A trademark is used to identify the source of goods or services through words, graphics, or symbols. It grants the owner the exclusive right to use the mark to prevent confusion and unfair competition in the market.
Patent: A patent protects a novel and useful invention or improvement. The person or organization holding the patent has the exclusive right to produce, use, or sell the invention, usually for a certain period of years.
Trade Secrets: A trade secret is undisclosed information with commercial value, and its owner has taken reasonable measures to keep it confidential. This can include manufacturing processes, customer lists, or special algorithms, among others.
In fact, copyright is a specialized field because artistic creation is very different from business or invention, so we need to distinguish them.
In the West, copyright is often described as "a bundle of rights," which means that copyright is not a single legal concept, but is composed of multiple rights. These include but are not limited to the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, and adapt. This diversity gives creators great flexibility, allowing them to license various rights separately or in combination as needed.
Why does copyright have such diverse characteristics? This is because within the larger legal framework of intellectual property, copyright is just a subset. However, this does not mean that copyright is secondary or limited. In fact, it is a very powerful "entity" in itself, which can be used to achieve a variety of legal and commercial objectives.
In short, copyright is a legal mechanism for identifying and protecting the rights of creators of works. Because we live in a world full of various creative expressions, such as literature, art, music, and even software, there needs to be a way to prove the originality and ownership of these works. This is the role of copyright. In addition to the basic rights of reproduction and distribution, copyright also grants creators a range of other rights, such as adaptation and public performance, while also imposing specific restrictions and obligations.
Fair Use: In certain specific circumstances, such as education, news reporting, commentary, and research, people have the right to use copyrighted works without prior permission. This is an important exception in copyright law.
Creative Commons: In addition to traditional copyright protection, there are also more flexible licensing options, such as Creative Commons licenses, which allow creators to freely share their works and customize how others can use them to a certain extent.
Assignment and Licensing: Owners of intellectual property can choose to assign or license their rights to others. This usually requires formal legal documents and may be accompanied by certain obligations and restrictions.
Unlike other forms of intellectual property such as trademarks and patents, copyright usually arises automatically and does not require registration (although registration can provide additional legal protection). In addition, different types of intellectual property may address different aspects of the same product or service. For example, a piece of software may have both copyright (for the source code) and trademark (for the brand name) protection. Generally speaking, intellectual property law is international in nature.
International Agreements and Organizations: Many countries participate in international organizations and agreements such as the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). These agreements establish the most basic standards of intellectual property protection, but countries still have a certain degree of freedom in their implementation.
Regional Differences: Despite international agreements, intellectual property laws in different countries and regions still have significant differences. For example, the "fair use" principle in the United States and the "fair dealing" principle in Europe are different.
Cross-Border Issues: In today's digital and globalized world, cross-border use and infringement issues are becoming increasingly complex. For example, a trademark registered in the United States may not be protected in China unless it is also registered there.
So, through these laws, inventors can obtain patent protection, businesses can obtain trademark protection, and creators can obtain copyright protection.
Pain Points of the Copyright Framework
The pain points of the traditional copyright framework, what are the pain points, why are they painful, and why do we need to revolutionize them?
Through the previous chapters, we have roughly understood what copyright and intellectual property are, as well as the subtle differences and applications of these concepts. This lays a solid foundation for the main topic we are about to discuss—existing problems in the copyright framework and how blockchain might be a solution. If you are interested in this topic, I highly recommend reading Sebastian Pech's paper "HOW BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY CAN CHANGE THE ADMINISTRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTED WORKS." The paper provides a detailed analysis of the shortcomings of the existing copyright system and proposes a series of blockchain-based solutions. It is also one of the references for my master's thesis.
Now, let's take a more specific look at some of the main problems currently existing in the copyright system. These problems can be roughly divided into five categories: the problem of rights confirmation, copyright fragmentation, opacity in use and payment, unequal distribution of interests, and infringement. These problems not only limit the rights of creators but also affect the entire value chain of copyrighted works, from production to consumption. In the following sections, we will discuss these problems one by one and explore how blockchain can provide viable solutions.
Rights Confirmation Issues
As mentioned earlier, copyright is often described in the West as "a bundle of rights." This means that copyright is not a single legal concept, but is composed of multiple rights. However, in the existing copyright registration process, it is difficult to effectively separate the main body of copyright from its subsidiary rights (such as derivative works, distribution, performance, and adaptation). While these subsidiary rights can be held separately by different legal entities, fairly distributing the profits to each rights holder has become a challenge, often requiring complex arbitration and management by third-party organizations. In fact, a deeper exploration reveals that this is more of a technical issue. The current copyright management system can only manage single copyrights, and it is somewhat inadequate and lacks flexibility for the multidimensional present.
Unequal Distribution of Interests
This problem mainly includes two aspects: profit distribution between platforms and copyright creators, and profit sharing between creators and derivative creators.
First, let's start by discussing the relationship between platforms and creators. In most cases, the profit-sharing mechanism of most creative platforms is quite stringent. Taking the music industry as an example, the profit-sharing mechanisms of Spotify and Apple Music have been widely criticized. This is also one of the reasons for the emergence of music NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which aim to return more profits to the creators. A similar situation also occurs on platforms such as Amazon's bookstores (covering physical and e-books) and Qidian (online literature). These platforms often use their traffic advantage to "enslave" creators, forcing them to sign unequal profit-sharing agreements.
Secondly, let's look at the profit-sharing issue between creators and derivative creators. This issue is particularly serious at present, such as in the case of "mashup" videos popular on the Bilibili platform. These videos are usually based on original videos for derivative creation. However, when these mashup videos start to generate profits, a problem arises: is the derivative creator obligated to share the profits with the original creator? Currently, such a mechanism is almost non-existent. Most derivative creators do not voluntarily share profits with the original creators unless they purchase the rights to the derivative work.
Infringement: A Thorny Issue in the Copyright System
Infringement, plagiarism, and abuse are the three most thorny issues in the current copyright system. These behaviors not only harm the legal and economic rights of original creators but also expose the shortcomings of the existing copyright system.
Infringement: Authorization and Responsibility
Infringement typically involves the unauthorized or excessive use of someone else's copyrighted work. This behavior not only violates the legal rights of the original creator but may also cause them economic losses. Although there are clear penalty provisions in the law, it is often difficult to prosecute infringers in practice due to the difficulty of collecting evidence and the complexity of cross-border enforcement.
Plagiarism: Disrupting Market Fairness
Plagiarism is a special type of infringement, often involving the unauthorized copying or imitation of someone else's work and passing it off as one's own creation. This not only infringes on the rights of the original author but also seriously disrupts the fair competition environment in the creative market.
Abuse: Deviating from the Original Intent
Copyright abuse is usually triggered by improper behavior of rights holders, such as restricting the legitimate circulation of works through malicious litigation or high licensing fees. This behavior actually undermines the fundamental goal of the copyright system, which is to promote innovation and information sharing.
Clearly, these problems mostly stem from unauthorized use or behavior. So, despite strict intellectual property laws, why is infringement still so common? On the one hand, as an open platform, the internet is often difficult to effectively track and enforce before infringement behavior becomes widespread. On the other hand, the legal system is slow to respond to these issues and always struggles to keep up with rapidly advancing technology. These factors together make infringement a persistent and complex problem that requires more comprehensive and efficient solutions. Lastly, there is the issue of globalization. In the context of globalization and the internet, copyright issues are becoming increasingly complex. Different countries and regions have their own copyright laws, which poses a challenge to cross-border copyright enforcement. Despite international copyright treaties and agreements, such as the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), differences in legal implementation and interpretation may still allow infringers to evade legal responsibility.
Blockchain, Intellectual Property, and Web3
Before discussing the Story protocol, I would like to first talk about the relationship between blockchain and IP. Blockchain is naturally suited to empower IP.
Since its inception, blockchain technology has attracted widespread attention across various industries. In the field of intellectual property, it is seen as a key technology that could potentially change copyright management, patent protection, and brand rights enforcement.
The three core characteristics of blockchain—transparency, traceability, and immutability—provide powerful tools for intellectual property management. Particularly in China, blockchain applications related to intellectual property are rapidly emerging. AntChain's "China Copyright Chain" is a typical example, representing the enormous potential of blockchain technology in ensuring copyright security, promoting creator rights, and simplifying copyright transactions. For example, in a 2019 case where Douyin sued Baidu, blockchain technology was used for evidence collection.
But why is the integration of blockchain and intellectual property so close?
1. Rights Confirmation: In the digital age, the speed of content creation, distribution, and sharing has made rights confirmation more difficult. However, blockchain technology provides a solution for this. It can provide an immutable timestamp for each piece of creative content, ensuring that the rights of the original creators are not infringed upon.
2. Transparency: In traditional intellectual property management systems, copyright information, transaction records, and authorization details often lack transparency. The openness and transparency of blockchain ensure that all transaction records are available for public scrutiny, thereby enhancing trust between copyright holders and users.
3. Traceability: In intellectual property infringement cases, tracing the origin of rights and the transaction path is crucial. The continuity of blockchain technology ensures that every transaction, authorization, and transfer is permanently recorded, providing strong evidence for legal disputes.
When we discuss the potential of blockchain, we often focus on its obvious features and applications. However, I believe that, in addition to these obvious advantages, blockchain has a more profound impact in the field of copyright, which is the securitization of intellectual property (IP).
We previously discussed the issue of copyright fragmentation, which mainly stems from the abstract nature of the "bundle of rights" concept. Traditional management methods often struggle to transform this abstract intellectual property right into tangible, highly liquid assets. However, when we put these copyrights on the blockchain, these abstract rights can be transformed or "securitized." This is similar to the approach of dataFi, which aims to transform abstract data or rights into tangible, tradable assets. At the same time, we can also explore more possibilities, such as pledging, lending, and fragmentation, which in the traditional web2 world often require multiple legal contract signings, but through blockchain and DeFi, we can simplify these processes.
Based on this securitization approach, we can further explore three key mechanisms:
1. Tokenization of IP: This is the process of transforming intellectual property into tokens. Once tokenized, these tokens can be freely traded on the blockchain, providing a new and efficient platform for intellectual property transactions. This is essentially "mapping" digital world assets back to reality, forming real assets, which can be seen as a kind of "reverse RWA."
2. Application of Smart Contracts: Through smart contracts, we can automate many processes related to copyright, such as authorization and profit sharing. This not only improves efficiency but also greatly reduces the costs associated with manual management and legal processes. This automation and simplification process helps to lower the barriers to property transactions, making them more popular and convenient.
3. Peer-to-Peer Transactions: One of the core features of blockchain is its support for peer-to-peer transactions, which means that transactions are not limited by geography or currency, and as long as both parties agree, transactions can proceed smoothly.
When we talk about smart contracts and blockchain technology, a core goal is to simplify and automate traditional transaction and contract processes. The origin of this technology, as you mentioned, is to create a peer-to-peer trading system to avoid the intervention of intermediaries and additional costs. In the property field, a significant barrier is the cumbersome document signing process associated with copyright transfers, authorizations, and other related transactions. This not only takes time but may also lead to legal disputes and misunderstandings in certain cases.
On-chain signatures provide a solution. By using blockchain technology, especially tools like ethsign, the parties involved in a transaction can directly sign contracts on the chain. This type of signature is encrypted, tamper-proof, and can be publicly verified. This means that traditional, cumbersome document signing and verification processes are no longer necessary, and all transactions can be automatically and securely completed on the chain.
More specifically, when intellectual property is put on the chain, a contract based on wallet signatures can be attached. This means that whenever someone wants to purchase, authorize, or engage in any other transaction related to the intellectual property, they only need to sign using their wallet, and the transaction can be automatically completed. This not only simplifies the transaction process but also ensures the security and transparency of the transactions.
Story Protocol
In this section, we will discuss the Story protocol. Although the origin of this discussion is not the Story protocol, I would like to thank them for their support, as well as the tweets from Thank Ming's Story, Sleepy, and S.Y.Lee.
Here, I will not delve into background or personal opinions, but will focus directly on the technical aspects. In particular, I will explore how network effects interact with intellectual property (IP) and compare several different solutions. Recently, S.Y. quoted Chris Dixon in a discussion thread, saying, "The killer app of the Internet is networks." I strongly agree with this viewpoint. In this networked world, the core of every application is people—or more precisely, nodes in the network. Similarly, if we consider each piece of intellectual property as a node, these "IP nodes" have the potential to form a vast network. However, the current intellectual property system seems to have not fully adapted to this networked trend. Specifically, the existing system has the following issues:
Opacity of Copyright: Rights holders often find it difficult to track the use of their works.
Opacity of Rights: Similarly, rights holders also find it difficult to understand who has what usage rights.
These two issues limit the effective operation of intellectual property in a networked environment. While the above problems are mainly focused on the legal aspect, intellectual property is actually a more complex subject. When we delve deeper, we find that this issue is far more complex than it appears on the surface.
Since S.Y. previously created a network novel platform called Radish, he has conducted a series of discussions from the perspective of novel IP. I personally agree with this direction because I believe that written works have excellent expandability and operability.
1. Low Cost of Infringement: In the current environment, the cost of infringing novel IP is very low.
2. Conflict between Original and Derivative Works: Currently, derivative works are rarely or never feedback to the original works. For example, on platforms like Bilibili and PEPE, we rarely see derivative creators showing respect to the original creators.
3. Double-Edged Sword of Open Networks: While the openness of the network promotes the free flow of information, it also makes it more difficult for original creators to protect their works.
The love-hate relationship between IP and platforms, as we discussed earlier, revolves around interests, beginning with interests and ending with dissemination. The love-hate relationship between the two is not just about interests. The platform economy oppresses the growth space of new IP. Existing content brands and IP also face the oppression of the platform economy. Platforms can precisely control the exposure and traffic of various brand IPs. New IPs can only continuously optimize customer acquisition costs (CAC) to sustain themselves. Enterprises like Hollywood continue to rehash old IPs because they fear the high cost of building new IPs and can only spend their budget on businesses that can yield effective returns. (quoted from a tweet by Story) The main reason for this is the lack of network effects in content, which must rely on huge content and marketing budgets to sustain themselves. Thinking carefully, from the perspective of the traditional 2/8 law, because the platform controls the traffic, it inevitably means that only a few works at the top will receive more exposure, and the remaining works can only rely on luck and spontaneous fan promotion and publicity. In other words, only a few people will make money.
To summarize the above points, Story Protocol aims to solve distribution issues, safeguard author rights, and create a new system. So, what have they actually done? S.Y. interestingly mentioned a term, Git. For those unfamiliar with version control, it may be a bit obscure. In a nutshell, Git is a distributed version control system. By using Git as the core logic, an IP management system or IP Repo based on Git is created to realize on-chain IP infrastructure. The core components are divided into two parts:
- On-chain IP repository, used for storing IP, retrospective allocation, on-chain records, tamper-proof, transparency, and traceability.
- Composable IP modules, expanding usage methods, more freedom, and autonomy.
Before delving into the Story Protocol, let's first review Git, which is a crucial tool in traditional software development. The core function of Git lies in version management and team collaboration, solving many challenges that development teams often encounter during the collaboration process. So, what does this have to do with intellectual property? As I mentioned earlier when discussing copyright, copyright is actually a collection of multiple rights. This means that different people may hold different subsets of rights—some may have the right to create derivative works, some may have performance rights, and others may have multiple rights. This is remarkably similar to the "version" concept in Git. If we apply Git's logic to IP management, each IP can be viewed as an independent repository, and the various rights can be considered as different branches or versions. This way, each IP is not only enhanced in terms of scalability, programmability, and traceability, but each "sub-version" can also maintain its independence.
Once IP transitions from an abstract entity to a specific node, we can start "playing with Lego." Through modularization, IP gains more interesting and useful ways to be used. For example, collaborative creation, rights distribution, royalty distribution, and blockchain-based IPFi operations are becoming increasingly feasible. This is a similar concept to the "data securitization" advocated in DataFi. That is, through modularization and encapsulation, we can add financial attributes to inherently difficult-to-quantify things, unlocking entirely new business and creative models. In a sense, this makes it easier for us to manage IP and to scrutinize its use. Here, I will combine the Story Protocol with the ideas mentioned in the third chapter.
IP Building Blocks: Like Lego, different IP elements (such as characters, storylines, settings, etc.) can be designed as plug-and-play modules. This will allow creators, investors, or fans to combine these modules to create entirely new works or derivatives.
Dynamic Rights Management: Modular IP elements mean more flexible rights management. For example, one module may only contain "performance rights," while another module may only contain "publishing rights."
Decentralized Co-Creation: Through blockchain or other distributed technologies, parties can jointly develop and improve IP modules without infringing on each other's rights.
Smart Contracts and Automated Royalties: Using modular design, smart contracts can automatically distribute royalties for works created collaboratively by multiple authors.
Modular Financialization: Each IP module can be traded as an independent financial asset, increasing liquidity and providing funds for small creators.
Module Interoperability: Different IP modules can achieve interoperability, allowing characters from a novel to easily appear in a completely different movie or game.
Community-Driven IP Development: Fans or communities can choose or improve IP modules through voting or other mechanisms, making the development of IP more democratic and diverse.
Real-time Data Feedback: The usage of each module can be tracked through data analysis, providing creators with real-time feedback to optimize their creative or marketing strategies.
Creader.io
Let me briefly discuss my previous ideas, although they are not mature, they are still worth considering.
The reason I wrote this article is largely because my master's thesis focused on researching on-chain copyright solutions, especially in the literary field. Therefore, my understanding of this area may be deeper than that of the average person.
My core idea is to use the "NFT on NFT" model to achieve visualized copyright management. In simple terms, this means creating a separate NFT for each associated right (such as distribution, performance, derivative works, access rights, etc.) for each copyright. The main advantage of this approach lies in the high flexibility and transparency it brings to copyright management.
Let me explain the user process in detail:
Registration and Cover NFT: Users first register on the platform, for example, by uploading a novel cover. The system then generates an NFT related to that cover for the user.
Creation of Associated Rights NFT: Only users holding a specific cover NFT can further create associated rights NFTs.
The core idea of this framework is "decoupling of rights." In the traditional copyright management system, although both copyright and its associated rights fall under the category of intellectual property, each right is considered as an independent entity. For example, a song may involve three different right holders: the composer, lyricist, and recording company. In this case, each right may require separate contracts for licensing, sales, or other commercial activities. While this approach provides a certain level of flexibility, it also introduces complexity to management. Through NFTs, we can separate and independently represent these rights, allowing each right to be traded and managed as an independent NFT.
Therefore, my proposal at the time was to separate the rights holders from their rights and directly associate this relationship with the copyright (i.e., NFT). In this way, users establish a connection with the copyright NFT and then create various associated rights through that NFT. The process can be simplified as: User → Copyright NFT → Associated Rights NFT. At the same time, to ensure integrity and security, when a user attempts to create an associated rights NFT, the system will verify if they are the holder of the relevant copyright NFT.
NFT and Copyright
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are widely associated with PFP (Profile Picture) or artwork at present, but their actual application potential goes far beyond this. From the original definition of NFTs, they are designed to represent ownership of digital or physical assets. In EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals), the definition of NFTs explicitly emphasizes their diversity, covering RWA assets, digital assets, and even liabilities. This means that the application scope of NFTs is much broader than the current common understanding.
For example, Uniswap uses NFTs to store data for liquidity pools, making user transactions more convenient; and Greenfield securitizes data assets through NFTs and the ERC-1155 standard, giving data actual economic value. These examples demonstrate the powerful potential of NFTs as containers for data and assets.
Furthermore, the true value of NFTs may lie in the simplification they bring to asset management and transactions. Traditional asset transactions and management, especially for copyright and intellectual property, often involve complex contracts and agreements, lacking transparency. However, as a publicly transparent digital certificate, NFTs not only simplify the transaction process but also provide a traceable history of rights distribution. This transparency and simplification bring revolutionary changes to asset management.
EIP6551 and Copyright
I first learned about EIP6551 before my trip to Lisbon in March, and I specifically studied it for the development of a dapp for the hackathon during the trip. If we compare it in essence, I basically developed a similar mechanism, but with much less flexibility and scalability. Let me explain EIP6551. The core idea of EIP6551 is to view NFTs as containers for wallets, thereby associating NFTs with assets and adding more operations on top of this. The main advantages of this design are transaction isolation and permission isolation, bringing higher flexibility and security to asset management.
In the Web2 world, each website is an independent entity, and user data and assets are managed and controlled by the website. But in the Web3 world, this narrative is reversed. Users become the center, and websites and applications revolve around users. The advantage of this model is that users have greater control over their data and assets, but it also brings a problem: assets are difficult to separate. When a user's wallet is attacked or stolen, all assets associated with that wallet may be threatened.
EIP6551 provides a solution. By viewing each NFT as an independent wallet, with its associated assets stored within it, asset isolation is achieved. This means that even if the main wallet is attacked, as long as the attack does not extend to all sub-wallets, the assets in the other sub-wallets remain secure. This design achieves risk isolation and asset isolation, providing users with higher asset security.
The Relationship between 6551 and Copyright
In the section of Creader.io, we attempted to define a new framework for copyright management through NFTs. However, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the lack of asset isolation in this framework would still lead to many inconveniences, such as asset transfer and fee calculation, once rights distribution becomes more complex. EIP6551 can provide a new definition within the existing framework. By associating each right or asset with an NFT, we can digitize and securitize rights. Each NFT can be seen as an independent wallet containing all information and transaction records related to that right or asset. This design not only simplifies the management and transaction process of intellectual property but also provides higher transparency and security.
Furthermore, EIP6551 provides greater flexibility for the trading and authorization of intellectual property. For example, a music producer can associate their music with an NFT and use that NFT as an independent wallet. When someone wants to purchase or license that song, they only need to transact with that NFT, without the need to directly negotiate with the producer. This design simplifies the transaction process, improves efficiency, and ensures the protection of the rights holder's interests.
My Thoughts
I think many things in the articles based on the story protocol are a bit vague. I think the concept of network state relies too much on users and the ecosystem. We know that a major issue with IP is independence. For a simple example, why can't we see a combination of Harry Potter and Twilight? Please don't mention fan fiction, that's not a legitimate use. This is because the original IP is independent and has its own storyline. So, who will build this network still needs to rely on users and the ecosystem. I think the future of infinite stories may lie here. But in doing so, I think the target of Story Protocol is not so much original creation as it is collaborative creation or derivative works. This may also be why the Story Protocol team describes IP as Git. Everyone can create their own fork based on the original creation and then create new stories/endings/characters, and then merge characters from other IPs into infinite stories. I also very much agree with their team's statement that the current copyright framework is not conducive to the openness principle of the network. Loose constraints may bring new narratives.
Comparison of Previous Ideas:
The main difference between my previous approach and the current discussions by Story Protocol lies in the focus on concretization and abstraction. While Story Protocol discusses many abstract concepts, the core idea is undoubtedly the same, aiming to solve intellectual property issues. My approach focuses more on specific implementation and operation, creating a separate NFT for each associated right through the "NFT on NFT" model to achieve visualized copyright management. The core of this method is "decoupling of rights," separating the rights holders from their rights and associating this relationship with NFTs. On the other hand, Story Protocol emphasizes openness and collaboration, providing a more macro and abstract perspective on the lifecycle and transactions of IP. Story Protocol emphasizes creating a system that can track the origin and evolution of IP and provide frictionless permission and mixed IP modules. Although both aim to solve the same core problem, their methods and focus differ. My approach provides a more specific and operationally strong solution, while Story Protocol offers a more open and collaborative framework.
Challenges:
New technologies inevitably bring new pains and opportunities. Let's discuss the challenges of blockchain and property rights, focusing on technology adoption, plagiarism and infringement, and transaction transparency.
Adoption:
In the past 5000 years, human civilization has experienced rapid progress, generating zettabytes of data. In contrast, blockchain technology has only a short history of just over a decade. This time difference has led to a significant learning curve, requiring stakeholders to invest a lot of time and resources to understand and adapt to this new technology. User accessibility is a major challenge in the blockchain industry. This novel and relatively complex technology requires a lot of education and popularization, especially when it comes to a field with a long history like intellectual property. The management and enforcement of intellectual property rights vary significantly between different countries due to their unique laws and standards. Although on-chain intellectual property may adopt unified standards, it does not necessarily align perfectly with the legal systems of all countries. This sets additional barriers for governments in adopting and implementing this new technology. To overcome this challenge, an open and unified standard is needed. Only when all participants adhere to this standard can countries make localized improvements, simplifying processes and ensuring smooth cross-border transactions. Finally, the attitude and involvement of governments are crucial. Governments often hold conservative views on adopting and regulating new technologies. To ensure the widespread application of blockchain technology in the field of intellectual property, close cooperation with governments and regulatory agencies is essential to ensure that the new technology aligns with existing laws and regulations.
Plagiarism and Infringement:
Before discussing plagiarism and infringement, it's important to clarify that no matter how technology advances, including any technology such as blockchain, it cannot completely avoid or eliminate human-made improper behaviors such as plagiarism and infringement. We cannot fully control or prevent human behavior choices. However, on-chain intellectual property does provide a powerful tool, which is the ability to confirm rights. In traditional intellectual property disputes, the process can generally be divided into two stages: evidence collection and judgment. Through blockchain technology, we can greatly accelerate the efficiency of evidence collection, thereby shortening the entire dispute resolution process. In short, the application of this technology can expedite dispute resolution, reduce resulting damages, and increase the cost and risk of infringement, indirectly raising the threshold for such criminal behavior. However, no matter how the narrative changes, we still cannot avoid on-chain plagiarism, off-chain plagiarism, or plagiarism within the chain ecosystem. This area may require assistance from the community and AI. Finally, to explain plagiarism, it may be more difficult to understand compared to infringement. Strictly speaking, there are only a few possible forms of plagiarism, such as direct copying, rewriting, or structural and conceptual similarities. However, it is difficult to determine plagiarism in cases like "Frankenstein" creations, where inspiration is involved. It's similar to game mechanics being similar but the core being different, thus not constituting plagiarism.
Transparency:
One of the core advantages of blockchain technology is its transparency, but this also brings a series of challenges and issues. Firstly, privacy becomes a major concern. Since all transactions are public and users are anonymous, the privacy of creators may still be threatened, especially when it comes to copyright transactions and revenue distribution. This may not only expose the identity of creators but also reveal their transaction amounts and other sensitive information. Secondly, excessive transparency may bring risks. While transparency can increase trust and verifiability, it may also lead to the disclosure of information that should not be public, such as creators' contact information and contract details. Finally, the immutability of blockchain data is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it ensures the authenticity and integrity of data, but on the other hand, it means that once data is added to the chain, any errors or outdated information will permanently exist and cannot be corrected or deleted. This may lead to legal disputes or other issues, especially in the field of intellectual property.
Conclusion:
Lately, I have been contemplating writing an article on on-chain intellectual property (IP). In fact, the reason I chose this industry is largely due to my strong interest in on-chain IP. In my view, although the current focus is mostly on digital currencies, intellectual property is a field in urgent need of innovation and change.
My passion for this field is not only because of its commercial potential but also because I see its impact on the future. I am even considering making this the focus of my doctoral research, not just as a career choice, but as an expectation and ideal for the future.
Intellectual property, especially successful IP, has tremendous value and potential. For example, the enduring appeal and value of the "Harry Potter" IP have been proven. However, under traditional intellectual property management models, many excellent IPs are often restricted by platforms and intermediaries, preventing them from fully realizing their potential.
Blockchain technology provides us with a new perspective and tool, making intellectual property management more transparent, fair, and efficient. We hope to break traditional constraints and create a low-friction, decentralized intellectual property management ecosystem through blockchain technology.
The purpose of writing this article is not only to share my views and ideas but also to help readers gain a deeper understanding of why blockchain and intellectual property should be combined, and the goals we are striving to achieve. I hope this article brings you inspiration, and I also hope that the future world of intellectual property will become more just and prosperous because of our efforts.
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