NFTs have been the hottest digital commodity among young investors recently, selling for exorbitant amounts. NFTs tied to big brands have come into the conversation now. From a copyright law perspective, the sector is treading on uncharted territory. The legal battle surrounding the copyright issue of the Dune NFT has taken many in the digital world by surprise. It is hard for almost anyone to predict how it may play out since there is no legal precedent.

To understand the whole legal fiasco a bit better let’s start from the very beginning.

What Exactly Happened?

It all began when an anonymous collective group called Spice DAO spent a thumping $3.04 million on a rare copy of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s production book for Dune at Christie’s auction. The book, however, was initially listed at only $28,000. The massive price gap as well as owning an early copy somehow convinced those at Spice DAO that they now have complete legal copyright over the book.

They announced on Twitter that as they had won the auction, they now aim to accomplish a few goals with the book. These include:

1. Making the book public
2. Producing an animated limited series inspired by the book which will then be sold to a streaming service
3. Supporting any other projects based on or inspired by the book

However contrary to what some may think, this plan had been brewing for a while. On the Spice DAO forum, a user once stated that it would be a good idea to purchase culturally significant work. This work would then be used to issue a series of NFTs.

They went on to say that upon purchasing a book they would convert it to JPGs or images after which they would burn the book. This means only the digital copies (NFTs) would be the only remaining copy of the book. This grand plan aims to heighten the value of their Dune NFT by making it the only legal copy in existence.

Legal Dispute

Yet, what Spice DAO failed to realise comes from the fact that owning a rare book does not grant them copyright over it. In fact, the copyright to the book still belongs to The Herbert Limited Partnership.

NFTs or non-fungible tokens represent real word assets stored on a blockchain on the internet. However, due to it being a relatively new area NFTs often find themselves surrounded by many legal loopholes. To find out more about NFTs see here.

Regardless of the legal questions surrounding NFTs, Spice DAO does not have the legal copyright to the Dune book. This means the odds are not looking up in their favour. Additionally, one may note that the scanned copy of the book existed online since 2011.  While the legal battle plays out, it is a good example of what can go terribly wrong in the world of NFTs.