This chapter addresses the phenomenon of unauthorized minting of NFTs. Specifically, the chapter examines whether copyright law should allow minting of NFTs that is not authorized by the author of the underlying work. Despite the immense growth of the NFT market, the answer to this question has remained unclear under extant copyright laws around the world. To provide foundations for policy-making in this arena, the chapter seeks to form a normative stance towards the question of unauthorized minting. It does so by analyzing this question from the perspective of the key theories that underly copyright law, including the utilitarian theory, the labor theory, and the personality theory. The matter is also examined from the viewpoint of cultural diversity and distributive justice considerations, which provide important underpinning for copyright policy. All in all, the analysis offers a normative basis for the conclusion that the right to mint an NFT should be awarded to the author of the work that underlies the NFT.

Copyright law safeguards the exclusive rights of authors to their intellectual creations, emphasizing reproduction, public display, and adaptation. A fundamental distinction within this realm is between the intangible creative work and its tangible representations. Owning a tangible embodiment (like a painting) does not grant rights to reproduce the intellectual work it embodies. This demarcation is critical in the dynamic landscape of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as acquiring an NFT does not automatically confer rights to the associated work. Instead, rights hinge on explicit contractual terms accompanying the NFT transaction. As the world of NFTs continues to unfold in all sorts of directions, delving deep into the intricacies of copyright law is important for artists, investors, and legal practitioners navigating the digital frontier. This chapter offers insights into the various copyright implications associated with NFTs.

Profitability of digital innovations depends on the ability of the innovator to prevent imitation and control a bottleneck in the ecosystem. The main drivers of value in the markets for information and communication include the perceived inherent value of the information product or service itself and the size and structure of the network. This chapter focuses on how to protect and enhance the value of information.