NFT marketplace – a market of fake artworks? Addressing the international regulatory vacuum of NFT

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven art buyers and collectors to purchase artworks online. As galleries are closed, art buyers choose to go online to purchase art in a digital form. An artwork that is made by a creator or an artist is initially placed into the cyberspace by uploading it. This is a process known as minting or uploading the artwork into an online marketplace for sale. In some circumstances, however, the person uploading the artwork onto the online marketplace for digital products is not the copyright owner of the artwork and does not have permission to do so. When this happens, an infringement of copyright occurs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ability of national legislatures to prevent such copyright infringement and make recommendations.