Give Me Utility or Give Me Death
In the world of NFTs, the word “utility” is thrown around with reckless abandon. No doubt, this word has taken on a life of its own within the non-fungible token community. But nonetheless, there is some merit in its overuse. NFT Art is inspiring, fascinating, and alluring. However, NFT Art provides so much more utility and benefit than just owning the artwork itself. In this blog post, we look at the most fascinating utility provided by NFT Projects: owning the intellectual property rights of the NFT itself.
NFT Trademark and Copyright Law
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual Property refers to a cluster of legal doctrines that regulate the use of ideas and insignia. Under the umbrella of intellectual property are three areas of law: copyright law, patent law and trademark law. Copyright law governs original forms of expression, such as novels, movies and television shows. Patent law regulates the areas of inventions and discoveries, and finally there is trademark law which is used to protect a company’s words and symbols. As one may imagine, owning the intellectual property rights to a famous character such as Superman or Homer Simpson can be extremely lucrative for the copyright and trademark holder. The power and value of original ideas has no bounds.
Not All NFTs are Created Equal
NFT Projects can add varying degrees of utility. Some NFT projects may provide no utility at all, and may simply be Profile Picture NFTs, or PFP NFTS for short. These PFP NFTs are simply used as profile pictures. The NFT is used as a status symbol. But beyond the PFP NFT characteristic, the NFT itself does not provide any extra benefit to the NFT holder. In this regard, the NFT itself is similar to traditional art. The NFT still may appreciate in value and may be worth a hell of a lot of money. However, the PFP NFT provides no extra benefit or utility to the NFT owner.
Of course, many NFT projects provide some useful utilities. From access to special Discord Servers to providing their NFT owners with project tokens. The possibilities are only limited to the creative limitations of the NFT project. However, one of the coolest and innovate benefits that any NFT projects have given to their NFT owners is the intellectual property rights to the NFT itself.
Owning the Intellectual Property Rights to Your NFT
The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs were one of the first NFT projects that allowed their owners to own the intellectual property rights to their NFTs. This allows the NFT owners to run wild with the NFT art they own and allows for the NFT owners to monetize their NFT. The NFT owner may put their NFT art on hats, t-shirts and other merchandise. Some NFT owners have created their own NFT restaurants.
Bored Ape Yacht Club grants intellectual property to the NFT holders.
Snoop Dogg, for example, has utilized this benefit with his own Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Snoop Dogg owns Bored Ape #6723 and Snoop has used his Bored Ape’s unique characteristics, e.g., the cheetah fur pimp coat and the Vietnam Era Helmet, to his advantage. Also, Snoop willl soon will be opening a dessert restaurant based upon his Bored Ape NFT, which he named “Dr. Bombay.” Snoop also created merchandise with his Bored Ape NFT, which you can see below.
Snoop Dogg’s NFT Merchandise.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club has created a multi-billion-dollar brand, and by allowing their NFT owners to monetize their NFTs in this way is – genius. In this paradigm, both the NFT owner and the NFT project benefit from such positive exposure.
TV Shows and the Next Level
An NFT owner that owns the intellectual property of the NFT art can even create animation, memes, tv shows, and movies with the NFT art. Some NFT owners are already utilizing this benefit. Seth Green has already put his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT into its own tv show. Indeed, Seth’s Bored Ape #8339 is the star of his new TV series “White Horse Tavern” and was recently “returned home” after being stolen from Seth. Seth had to pay $300,000.00 to get the Bored Ape back, after losing it in a phishing attack. (He originally paid $200,000.00 for it; however, it is not believed the seller of the Bored Ape had anything to do with the hacking.)
Own Your Awkward
Here at the Awk Monks NFT Team, we are proud that all Awkward Monkey NFT owners own the intellectual property of their Awk Monk NFTs. We encourage our NFT community to monetize their NFTs and make our brand grow out of kindness, awkwardness and utility! The NFT Monkey Art in the Awk Monk NFT Collection is diverse, varied and all-embracing. This allows for many unique voices to be heard.
NFT Awkward Monkey
Thank you taking the time to read our blog post! Continue to check out our blog for more interesting posts on the world of NFTs. Also, don’t forget to check out The Ultimate NFT Monkey Guide for everything NFT Monkey!
