NFT著作权属性辨正--兼评我国“NFT侵权第一案”

Clarifying the Copyright Aspects of NFT--Review of the fi rst NFT copyright case in China

NFT是区块链智能合约代币,通过元数据与作品产生联系。元数据有链上作品数据、外部网址链接、无作品信息三种可选择形式。NFT作为私人数字证书,其宣称的代币化存在误导性,却未经法律审查。在著作权法定的背景下,NFT代币化至多具有著作权许可、转让的合同效力,基础权利变动仍应遵循基本的法律规则。NFT不等同于作品复制件,铸币行为不必然是复制权的受控行为。外部网址链接是最常见的NFT铸币形式。当被链对象是作品合法复制件时,NFT铸币交易不受信息网络传播权保护,但可能因代币化法律属性模糊带来的价值泡沫而受到竞争法的保护。当被链对象是侵权复制件时,铸币交易存在间接侵权的成立空间,但据NFT技术特点与各国司法先例,构成侵权的可能性仍然较低。

NFT is a blockchain smart contract token that is linked to a work through metadata.As a private digital certifi cate,NFT tokenisation is misleadingly claimed without legal scrutiny.NFTs are not equal to copies of works,and the act of minting is not a controlled act of reproduction right.Links to external websites are the most common form of NFT minting.When the object of the link is a legal copy of a work,it is not protected by right of communication to the public,but may be protected by competition law due to the value bubble brought by the ambiguous legal attributes of tokenisation.When the object of the link is an unauthorized copy of a work,there is room for indirect infringement,but the likelihood of infringement is still low according to the technical characteristics of NFT and judicial precedents.