NFTs and Rights Clearance: Due Diligence, Transfer of Rights, NIL, Terms of Service

Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Trademark and Copyright
- event Date
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE course will guide counsel on clearing rights associated with nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The panel will discuss the key considerations related to rights clearance and NFTs, including the rights in the underlying asset, transfer of rights, name, image and likeness (NIL), and terms of service. The panel will offer best practices for rights clearance.
Faculty

Mr. Barsky regularly represents clients in intellectual property, information technology, and data-related licensing and transactional matters, including M&As, private equity transactions, joint ventures, and multilateral and multinational licensing agreements. He assists and advises clients with navigating the complexities of transactions involving intangible assets such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and data, brand licensing and distribution agreements, blockchain technology such as cryptocurrency and NFTs, software and technology licensing agreements, and transition services agreements. Post-closing, Mr. Barsky assists clients with the maintenance and enforcement of their IP and IT portfolios with an eye towards leveraging those portfolios to drive revenue and growth. Mr. Barsky oversees, coordinates and maintains multinational trademark portfolios encompassing thousands of marks registered in more than 100 countries, including the monitoring and enforcement of the portfolios, as well as multinational, anti-counterfeiting activities. In addition to his transactional and counseling work, Mr. Barsky maintains an active, nationwide IP and IT litigation practice and has represented clients in patent infringement, trademark infringement, anti-counterfeiting, unfair competition, copyright infringement and trade secret theft matters, as well as information technology, data privacy, cyberfraud, data breach and hacking matters, and responses thereto. Additionally, Mr. Barsky is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law where he teaches patent litigation and the university's Startup Practicum, and is the university's faculty supervisor for the USPTO Law School Clinic Program.
Description
Everything is being tokenized and NFTs have exploded in popularity. More and more industries are recognizing the benefits of NFTs. Over $37 billion was reportedly spent on NFTs in 2022 and that number is growing. While NFTs have presented opportunities for IP owners, they have also resulted in potential problems.
Rights clearance is an essential step when considering licensing. It is important to have the right to create an NFT associated with the underlying asset. If there is no right, the right must be obtained before creating, licensing, or selling the NFT.
Among the key considerations when clearing rights is a thorough due diligence to verify what rights to the content exist and what steps need to be taken to get the necessary permissions to gain the rights. Further, if the NFT depicts a NIL, it is important to understand the various governing laws and policies in order to assure compliance.
Listen as our authoritative panel of IP attorneys examines the key considerations related to rights clearance and NFTs, including the rights in the underlying asset, transfer of rights, NIL, and terms of service. The panel will offer best practices for rights clearance.
Outline
- NFTs
- Rights clearance: key considerations
- Due diligence
- Transfer of rights
- NIL
- Terms of service
- Best practices
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What factors should be considered when determining whether to create an NFT? What steps should counsel take to ensure the creator or seller of the NFT has rights in the underlying asset?
- What rights need to be cleared to sell an NFT?
- If a creator does not have the right to mint an NFT, what action should be taken to obtain the rights needed to create and sell the NFT?
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