a16z Launches ‘Can’t Be Evil’ NFT Licensing Contracts‍

‍A16z, the cryptocurrency division of venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz, has released open-source "Can't Be Evil" NFT licenses to push standardization throughout Web3.

The licenses, which took their cue from Creative Commons, seek to remove some of the uncertainty around the legal status of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by providing copyright licensing.

The business wants to provide a framework that everyone can understand for addressing NFT ownership and copyright concerns. According to Miles Jennings, General Counsel and Head of Decentralization at a16z, there is now a lot of "ambiguity and legal risk across the NFT ecosystem." For buyers, this makes it more challenging to understand what they're getting when they acquire an NFT.

The business wants to provide a framework that everyone can understand for addressing NFT ownership and copyright concerns. According to Miles Jennings, General Counsel and Head of Decentralization at a16z, there is now a lot of "ambiguity and legal risk across the NFT ecosystem." For buyers, this makes it more challenging to understand what they're getting when they buy an NFT.

The Can't Be Evil licenses address this issue by providing six different license types for NFT creators: CCO 1.0 Universal, Personal Use License, Non-Exclusive Commercial Rights, Non-Exclusive Commercial Rights & Termination for Hate Speech, and Exclusive Commercial Rights.

According to a16z, the licenses have three objectives, namely, to secure or release intellectual property rights for NFT authors. To enable owners, artists, and communities to unlock the creative and financial potential of projects through a clear IP framework. To provide NFT holders rights that are enforceable, irreversible, and understandable.

The open source licenses are based on American copyright law. Some of the licenses may be altered or amended for specific projects, but once granted, they are "irrevocable by creators." The licenses are accessible on GitHub and may be referenced directly in a smart contract.

A16z is certainly not the only Web3 platform concerned with NFT creators' and holders' IP rights. Many NFT creators are certain that holders should have complete commercial and personal rights to their NFTs to use them any way they see fit because crypto art and NFTs were created in the spirit of decentralization and open-source knowledge sharing.

Yuga Labs, the creators of the blue-chip NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and the proprietors of CryptoPunks and Meebits, two collections the firm recently purchased and released full IP rights to holders. So far, BAYC members have fully utilized their intellectual property rights.

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