On-chain intellectual property: the way forward

I recently saw that the story included $54m and reminded me of this project hahaha. I’ve watched it before, and then there doesn’t seem to be any news. As for the reason for writing this long essay, it is mainly the master’s research direction. So let’s just have a quick chat. After all, I don’t study law either; I just read copyright law for the sake of discussion. Learn about some of the existing situations. Before getting to the point, I thought about it a bit recently. I just started writing long articles about anything I wanted to write, read whatever I wanted, and I didn’t really care about it hahaha.

What is copyright?

Deeply explore intellectual property and its many sub-fields, particularly copyright, and the rights and obligations associated with it. We’ll also cover how these legal concepts work globally.

To begin with that topic, let’s start with copyright and intellectual property. Copyright (copyright) and intellectual property (IP) are actually more complicated than you might think. Intellectual property is a collection of various legal concepts, including but not limited to aspects such as copyright, trademarks, and patents. The legal concept here is used to prove the creator’s rights in some way. As an owner of intellectual property, you can sell, transfer, or manage various rights under these legal concepts. You’ve probably seen that we’ve talked about copyright; at this point, you’re probably puzzled, aren’t you?

1. Copyright (Copyright): Copyright is a legal protection mechanism for creative works such as literature, art, and music. It gives creators the exclusive right to copy, distribute, display, and modify the work, usually valid for a certain period of time.
2. Trademarks (Trademarks): Trademarks are words, graphics, or symbols used to identify the origin of goods or services. It gives owners the exclusive right to use the logo to prevent confusion and unfair competition in the market.
3. Patent (Patent): A patent protects a novel and useful invention or improvement. The person or organization holding the patent right has the exclusive right to produce, use, or sell the invention, usually for a certain period of time.
4. Trade Secrets (Trade Secrets): A trade secret is undisclosed information that has commercial value, and whose owner has taken reasonable steps to keep it confidential. This could include things like production processes, customer lists, or special algorithms.

Actually, copyright is a field of segmentation. Because artistic creation is very different from a merchant or invention, we need to differentiate it.

In the West, copyright is often described as a “bundle of rights” (a bundle of rights), which means that copyright is not a single legal concept, but consists of multiple rights. These include, but are not limited to, reproduction rights, distribution rights, performance rights, display rights, and adaptation rights. This diversity gives creators great flexibility, allowing them to license various rights individually or in combination to third parties as needed.

Why is copyright so diverse? This is because under the larger legal framework, that is, intellectual property, copyright is only a subset of it. However, this does not mean that copyright is secondary or limited. In fact, it itself is a very powerful “subject” that can be used to achieve a wide variety of legal and commercial goals.

Simply put, copyright is a legal mechanism used to identify and protect the rights of the creator of a work. Since we live in a world full of creative expressions, such as literature, art, music, and even software, we need a way to prove the originality and ownership of these works. This is the role of copyright. In addition to basic reproduction and distribution rights, copyright also grants creators a range of other rights, such as adaptations and public performances, and also has specific restrictions and obligations.

1. Fair Use (Fair Use): In certain situations, such as education, journalism, reviews, and research, etc., people have the right to use another person’s copyrighted work without prior permission. This is an important exception to copyright law.
2. Creative Commons (Creative Commons): In addition to traditional copyright protection, there are more flexible licensing options, such as creative sharing licenses, which allow creators to freely share their work and to some extent customize how others use it.
3. Transfer and licensing: Owners of intellectual property may choose to transfer or license their rights to others. This usually requires formal legal documentation and may come with certain obligations and restrictions.

Compared to other forms of intellectual property such as trademarks and patents, copyright generally arises automatically and does not require registration (although registration provides additional legal protection). Additionally, different types of intellectual property may target different aspects of the same product or service. For example, a piece of software may have both copyright (for the source code) and trademark (for the brand name). Generally speaking, intellectual property law is international.

1. International agreements and organizations: Many countries participate in international organizations and agreements such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). These agreements stipulate the most basic standards of intellectual property protection, but countries still have a certain degree of freedom in implementing them.
2. Regional differences: Despite international agreements, there are still significant differences in intellectual property laws in different countries and regions. For example, there is a difference between the US “fair use” principle and the European “fair use” principle.
3. Cross-border issues: In today’s digitalization and globalization, issues of cross-border use and infringement are becoming more complex. For example, a trademark registered in the US may not be protected in China unless it is also registered in China.

So through these laws, inventors can get patent protection, merchants can get trademark protection, and creators can get copyright protection.

Pain points of the copyright framework

The pain points of the traditional copyright framework, what are the pain points, why do we need to change

Through the previous sections, we had an overview of what copyright and intellectual property are, as well as the nuances and applications of these concepts. This lays a solid foundation for the topics we’ll explore next — existing issues with copyright frameworks and how blockchain might be a solution. If you’re interested in this topic, I highly recommend reading Sebastian Pech’s paper “ HOW BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY CAN CHANGE THE ADMINISTRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTED WORKS “. The paper analyzed in detail the shortcomings of the existing copyright system and proposed a range of blockchain-based solutions. It is also one of the reference materials for my master’s thesis.

Now let’s look more concretely at some of the major issues with the copyright system right now. These problems can be broadly classified into five categories: licensing issues, copyright fragmentation, opacity in use and payment, unequal distribution of benefits, and infringement. These issues not only limit creators’ rights, but also affect the entire value chain of copyrighted works, from production to consumption. In the next section, we’ll explore each of these issues and explore how blockchain can provide a viable solution.

The question of affirmation of authority

As previously mentioned in the copyright section, “Copyright is automatically created and registration is not required”, but the legal effect of this automatic generation is relatively weak. At this stage, although the copyright registration process is gradually being simplified, the biggest challenge is how to prove that you are the original author of a copyrighted work. In traditional legal frameworks, this usually requires extensive documentation and third-party certification, which is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also has a significant impact on many users. Infringers can still freely use copyright or intellectual property rights until they are punished, which seriously infringes on the rights of real copyright holders and may affect their future sales and development.

The fragmentation problem of copyright

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, copyright is generally described in the West as a “bundle of rights” (a bundle of rights). This means that copyright is not a single legal concept, but consists of multiple rights. However, in the current copyright registration process, it is difficult for us to effectively separate copyright subjects from their ancillary rights (such as secondary creation, distribution, interpretation, and adaptation, etc.). Although these ancillary rights can be held separately by different legal entities, how to distribute these benefits fairly among rights holders has become a difficult problem, often requiring complex arbitration and management by third parties. In fact, if we dig deeper, we’ll find that this is more of a technical problem. The current copyright management system can only manage a single copyright, which is somewhat overwhelmed and inflexible with the current multi-dimensional aspects.

Unequal distribution of benefits

This problem mainly includes two aspects: one is the profit distribution between the platform party and the copyright creator; the second is the division of profit between the creators and secondary creators.

First, let’s begin our discussion on the relationship between platforms and creators. Generally, most creative platforms have a very strict margin mechanism. Taking the music industry as an example, the profit sharing mechanism of Spotify and Apple Music has always been widely criticized. This is one reason why music NFTs (non-homogenized tokens) have emerged, and their purpose is to return more profits to creators. The same situation has also occurred on platforms such as Amazon Bookstore (which covers physical books and e-books) and Starting Point (online literature). These platforms often use their traffic advantage to “kidnap” creators and force them to sign unequal profit sharing agreements.

Second, let’s take a look at the division of profit between creators and secondary creators. The problem is particularly serious right now, such as the popular “Goblin” video on the Bilibili platform. This type of video is usually a secondary creation based on an original video. However, when these ghost videos start to make a profit, the question arises: are secondary creators obligated to share the revenue with the original creators? Currently, such a mechanism is almost non-existent. Most secondary creators don’t actively share revenue with original creators unless they buy secondary creative rights.

Infringement: A difficult problem in the copyright system

Infringement, plagiarism, and misuse are the three most difficult issues in the current copyright system. These acts not only hurt the legal and economic rights of the original creators, but also revealed the shortcomings of the existing copyright system.

Infringement: Authorization and Liability

Infringement usually involves the unauthorized or unauthorized use of another person’s copyrighted work. This kind of behavior not only infringes on the legal rights and interests of the original creators, but may also cause them financial losses. Although the law has clear penalties, it is often difficult to prosecute infringers in actual execution due to the difficulty of gathering evidence and the complexity of cross-border enforcement.

Plagiarism: Undermining Market Fairness

Plagiarism is a special type of infringement that usually involves unauthorised copying or imitation of someone else’s work and impersonating it as your own creation. This not only infringes on the rights and interests of the original authors, but also seriously undermines the level playing field in the creative market.

Misuse: Deviating from the original intention

Copyright abuse is usually triggered by the misconduct of rights holders, such as through malicious lawsuits or high license fees to limit the legal circulation of works. This kind of behavior actually undermines the basic goal of the copyright system, which is to promote innovation and information sharing.

Obviously, these problems are essentially the result of unauthorized use or conduct. So, despite strict intellectual property laws, why is infringement still rampant? On the one hand, as an open platform, the Internet is often difficult to effectively track and enforce infringements before they reach scale. On the other hand, the legal system is slow to respond in dealing with these issues and is always struggling compared to rapidly developing technology. The combination of these factors makes infringement a persistent and complex problem that requires more comprehensive and efficient solutions. Finally, there is the issue of globalization. In the context of globalization and the Internet, copyright issues are becoming more and more complicated. Different countries and regions have their own copyright laws, which has caused certain difficulties in cross-border copyright enforcement. Despite international copyright treaties and agreements, such as the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), infringers may still evade legal liability due to differences in law implementation and interpretation.

Blockchain and Intellectual Property and Web3

Before talking about Story Protocol, I’d like to talk about the relationship between blockchain and IP. Blockchain is inherently suitable for empowering IP

Since its inception, blockchain technology has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. In the field of intellectual property, it is seen as a key technology that could change copyright management, patent protection, and brand protection.

Blockchain’s three core features — transparency, traceability, and immutability — provide powerful tools for intellectual property management. In China in particular, blockchain applications related to intellectual property are rapidly emerging. Ant Chain’s “China Copyright Chain” is a typical example. It represents the huge potential of blockchain technology in ensuring copyright security, promoting creators’ rights, and streamlining copyright transactions. For example, in the 2019 Douyin lawsuit against Baidu, blockchain technology was used to collect evidence.

But why is blockchain so closely linked to intellectual property?

1. Authorization: In the digital age, the speed at which content is created, distributed, and shared is extremely fast, making it more difficult to validate rights. But blockchain technology provides a solution to this. It can provide an immutable timestamp for every piece of creative content to ensure that the rights of the original author are not infringed upon.
2. Transparency: In traditional IP management systems, copyright information, transaction records, and authorization details often lack transparency. The openness and transparency of blockchain ensures that all transaction records are publicly accessible, thus enhancing trust between copyright holders and users.
3. Traceability: In IP infringement cases, tracing the origin of rights and transaction paths is key. The continuity of blockchain technology ensures that every transaction, authorization, and transfer is permanently recorded, providing strong evidence for legal disputes.

As we explore the potential of blockchain, we often focus on its obvious features and applications. But I think that in addition to these obvious advantages, blockchain also has a more profound impact in the field of copyright, which is the capitalization of intellectual property (IP).

We’ve discussed the fragmentation of copyright before, mainly due to the abstraction of the concept “a bundle of rights.” Traditional management methods often make it difficult to turn this abstract intellectual copyright into an actual asset with high liquidity. But when we link these copyrights, this abstract right can be converted or “capitalized.” This is similar to DataFi’s idea of materializing abstract data or rights into actual, tradable assets. At the same time, we can also play more tricks, such as staking, lending, fragmentation, etc. In the traditional web2 world, these operations often require the signing of multiple legal contracts, but through blockchain and defi, we can simplify these processes

Based on this approach to capitalization, we can further explore three key mechanisms:

1. IP tokenization: This is the process of turning intellectual property into tokens. Once tokenized, these tokens can be freely traded on the blockchain, providing a new and efficient platform for intellectual property transactions. This actually “maps” assets from the digital world back to reality to form real assets, which can be viewed as a kind of “reverse RWA.”
2. Application of smart contracts: Through smart contracts, we can automate many copyright-related processes, such as licensing and profit sharing. This not only increases efficiency, but also significantly reduces costs associated with manual administration and legal processes. This automated and simplified process helps lower the threshold for property transactions, making them more popular and convenient.
3. Peer-to-peer transactions: One of the core features of blockchain is that it supports peer-to-peer transactions, which means that transactions are not restricted by region or currency. As long as both parties to the transaction agree, the transaction can proceed smoothly.

When we talk about smart contracts and blockchain technology, another core goal is to simplify and automate traditional transaction and contract processes. The origin of this technology, as you mentioned, is to implement a peer-to-peer trading system, thus avoiding intermediary intervention and additional costs. In the field of property rights, one significant obstacle is the cumbersome document signing process associated with copyright transfers, licensing, and other related transactions. Not only is this time-consuming, but in some cases it can lead to legal disputes and misunderstandings.

On-chain signatures provide a solution. By using blockchain technology, particularly tools like ethsign, both parties to a transaction can sign a contract directly on the chain. This signature is encrypted, immutable, and publicly verifiable. This means that traditional, cumbersome document signing and verification processes are no longer required; all transactions can be completed automatically and securely on-chain.

More specifically, when property rights are on the chain, a contract based on a wallet signature can be attached. That way, every time someone wants to buy, authorize, or make other transactions relating to that property, they only need to sign with their wallet, and the transaction can then be completed automatically. This not only streamlines the transaction process, but also ensures the safety and transparency of transactions.

Story protocol

Let’s talk about story protocol in this section. The reason I’m writing this is not a story protocol, but I thank them for promoting me, Xie Ming’s story, Sleep, and S.Y. Lee’s tweets

Here, I’m not going to go deep into background or personal opinions, but rather focus directly on the technical level. In particular, I’ll explore how network effects interact with intellectual property (IP) and compare several different solutions. Recently, S.Y quoted Chris Dixon’s famous quote in a discussion thread: “The Killer App of the Internet is Networks.” I agree with this point of view. In this networked world, the core of every application is a person — or more accurately, a node within the network. Similarly, if we consider every intellectual property as a node, then these “IP nodes” are likely to form a huge network. However, the current IP system does not seem to be fully adapted to this trend of networking. Specifically, the current system has the following problems:

1. Copyright is not transparent: It’s often difficult for stakeholders to track how their work is being used.
2. Rights are not transparent: Similarly, it is difficult for stakeholders to understand which people or organizations have what usage rights.

These two issues limit the effective operation of intellectual property in an online environment. Complexity and multi-dimensional challenges. Although these issues focus mainly on the legal level, intellectual property is actually a more complex topic. As we dig deeper, we’ll find that the problem is far more complicated than it seems on the surface.

Since S.Y once founded Radish, an online novel platform, he conducted a series of discussions from the perspective of novel IP. I personally agree with this direction because I think written works have excellent expandability and operability.

1. Low cost of infringement: In the current environment, the cost of infringing on a novel IP is very low.
2. The contradiction between originality and second-creation: Currently, secondary creations (second-generation) rarely or never give back to original works. For example, on platforms such as BiliBili and Pepe, we rarely see the second creator’s respect for the original creator.
3. The double-edged sword of the open web: Although the open nature of the Internet promotes the free flow of information, it also makes it more difficult for original authors to protect their work.

The love-hate entanglement between IP and platforms. We talked about oppression between interests before. The problem is that platforms and IP start with interests and eventually spread. The entanglement of love and hate between the two is more than just interests. The platform economy is straining the growth space for new IPs. Existing content brands and IPs are still under pressure from the platform economy, and platforms can accurately control the exposure traffic of each brand’s IP. The new IP can only make ends meet by continuously optimizing the customer acquisition cost CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). Companies such as Hollywood are always frying cold food and remaking old IPs. It is also because they are afraid of the high cost of building new IPs, so they can only spend their budgets on businesses that can reap effective returns. (Tweet quoting the story) The main reason for this is that content lacks network effects and must rely on huge content and marketing budgets to maintain itself. If you think about it carefully, judging from the traditional 2/8 rule, because the platform controls traffic, it inevitably means that only some of the top works will get more exposure, while the rest of the works can only be promoted and promoted by luck and spontaneity from fans. In other words, only a few people will make money.

Summarizing the above points, Story Protocol wants to solve distribution problems, protect authors’ rights, and create a new system. So what did they actually do. S.Y said the word Git in a very funny way. It might be a bit obscure for people unfamiliar with version control. The summary in one sentence is that Git is a distributed version control system. Using Git as the core logic to create an IP Git management system or IP repo to achieve on-chain IP infrastructure. The core structure is divided into 2 parts

1. On-chain IP library for IP storage, backtracking distribution, on-chain records, immutable, transparent, and traceable
2. Combinable IP modules to expand usage, more freedom and autonomy

Before we dive into Story Protocol, let’s review Git, a critical tool in traditional software development. Git’s core features are version management and team collaboration, and it solves many of the challenges development teams often face in the collaborative process. So how does this relate to intellectual property? As I mentioned before when discussing copyright, copyright is actually a collection of multiple rights. This means that different people may hold different subsets of rights — for example, some may have secondary creative rights, some may have the right to perform, and others may have multiple rights. This is strikingly similar to Git’s concept of a “version.” If we apply Git logic to IP management, that is, treat each IP as an independent repository (repository), and various rights are equivalent to different branches (branches) or versions. In this way, not only has each IP been enhanced in terms of scalability, programmability, and traceability, but each “sub-version” can maintain its independence.

Once IP is transformed from an abstract subject to a concrete node, we can begin to “play LEGO.” Through modularity, IP has gained more interesting and useful ways to play. For example, operations such as co-creation, rights distribution, royalty distribution, and blockchain-based IPFi are becoming increasingly viable. This is a similar concept to the “data capitalization” advocated in DataFi. In other words, through modularity and packaging, we can add financial attributes to things that are inherently difficult to quantify, thereby unlocking new business and creative models. In fact, to a certain extent, this makes it easier for us to manage IP and review the use of IP. Here are some ideas in conjunction with Story Protocol and chapter 3.

1. IP Blocks (IP Blocks): Like LEGO, different IP elements (such as characters, storylines, settings, etc.) can be designed as pluggable modules. This will allow creators, investors, or fans to combine these modules to create brand new works or derivatives.
2. Dynamic Rights Management (Dynamic Rights Management): Modular IP elements mean more flexible rights management. For example, one module might only include “performance rights,” while another module might only include “publication rights.”
3. Decentralized Co-Creation (Decentralized Co-Creation): Through blockchain or other distributed technology, all parties can jointly develop and improve IP modules without infringing on each other’s rights.
4. Smart Contracts and Automated Royalties (Smart Contracts and Automated Royalties): Using modular design, smart contracts can automatically distribute royalties for works co-created by multiple creators.
5. Modular Financialization (Modular Financialization): Each IP module can be traded as an independent financial asset, which not only increases liquidity, but also provides capital for small creators.
6. Module Interoperability (Module Interoperability): Interoperability can be achieved between different IP modules, so characters from one novel can easily appear in another completely different movie or game.
7. Community-driven IP Development (Community-Driven IP Development): Fans or communities can select or improve IP modules through voting or other mechanisms, so IP development will become more democratic and diverse.
8. Real-time data feedback (Real-Time Data Feedback): The usage of each module can be tracked through data analysis to provide real-time feedback to creators to optimize their creative or marketing strategies.

Creader.io

Let me just talk about it briefly. The previous idea, although immature, is not lacking, is also a kind of thought

I am writing this article largely because my master’s thesis focused on the study of on-chain copyright solutions, particularly in the field of literature. As a result, I probably have a deeper understanding of this field than the average person.

My core idea is to use the “NFT suite NFT” model to achieve visual management of copyright. Put simply, this means creating a separate NFT for every type of copyright ancillary right (such as distribution, performance, derivative work, access, etc.). The main advantage of this approach is the high degree of flexibility and transparency it brings to copyright management.

Let me explain the user process in detail:

1. Registration and cover NFT: Users first register on the platform, such as uploading a novel cover. The system then generates an NFT associated with that cover for the user.
2. Creating ancillary rights NFTs: Only users who own a specific cover NFT can further create ancillary rights NFTs associated with it.

The core idea of this framework is “decoupling of powers.” In traditional copyright management systems, although copyright and its ancillary rights fall under the category of intellectual property, each right is treated as a separate entity. For example, a song might involve three different rights holders: the composer, the lyricist, and the recording company. In this case, each right may require a separate contract for licensing, sale, or other commercial activity. While this approach provides some flexibility, it also introduces complexity to management. And through NFT, we can separate these rights and independently state that each right can be traded and managed as an independent NFT

So my proposal at the time was to separate property owners from their rights and link this relationship directly to property rights (i.e. NFTs). In this way, users connect with a property NFT and then create various subsidiary rights through that NFT. The process can be simplified as follows: User → Property NFT → Affiliated Rights NFT. At the same time, in order to ensure integrity and security, when users try to create ancillary rights NFTs, the system will verify whether they are holders of the relevant property rights NFT.

NFT and property rights

NFTs (non-alternative tokens) are now widely associated with PFP (Profile Picture) or works of art, but their actual application potential goes far beyond that. Judging from the original definition of NFT, it was designed to represent ownership of a digital or physical asset. In the EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal), the definition of NFT clearly emphasizes its diversity, covering RWA assets, digital assets, and even liabilities. This means that the field of application of NFT is far broader than is currently commonly known.

For example, Uniswap uses NFT to store liquidity pool data, making it more convenient for users to trade; while Greenfield capitalizes data through NFT and ERC-1155 standards, giving actual economic value to the data. These examples all show the strong potential of NFTs as containers for data and assets.

Thinking further, the true value of NFT may lie in the simplification it brings to asset management and trading. Traditional asset transactions and management, particularly copyright and intellectual property rights, often involve complex contracts and agreements and lack transparency. NFT, as an open and transparent digital certificate, not only streamlines the transaction process, but also provides a traceable history of rights distribution. This transparency and simplification has revolutionized asset management.

6551 and property rights

I first learned about EIP6551 before I went to Lisbon in March. I studied specifically for my trip to Lisbon and developed a hackathon based on this. When it comes down to comparison, I actually made a similar mechanism, but the flexibility and scalability are much weaker. Let me first explain EIP6551. The core idea of EIP6551 is to regard NFT as a container for a wallet, so that NFT is linked to assets, and more operations are superimposed on this. The main advantages of this design are transaction isolation and authority isolation, which brings greater flexibility and security to asset management.

In the Web2 world, every website is an independent entity, and user data and assets are managed and controlled by the website. But in the Web3 world, that narrative has been reversed. The user became the center, and the website and app revolved around the user. The advantage of this model is that users have greater control over their data and assets, but it also poses a problem: assets are difficult to separate. When a user’s wallet is attacked or stolen, all assets associated with that wallet may be at risk.

EIP6551 provides a solution. Asset isolation is achieved by treating each NFT as a separate wallet where the assets associated with it are stored. This means that even if the main wallet is attacked, as long as the attack doesn’t extend to all sub-wallets, the assets in the other sub-wallets are still safe. This design enables risk isolation and asset isolation, providing users with greater asset security.

So why does 6551 have anything to do with property rights?

In the Creader.io section, we’re trying to define a new property rights management framework through NFT. However, the flexibility of this is the same as I mentioned in the previous section because there is no asset isolation. Once rights are distributed more, there will still be many inconveniences, such as asset transfer and fee calculation. EIP6551 can be defined in a new round within the existing framework. By associating each right or asset with an NFT, we can digitize and capitalize rights. Each NFT can be thought of as a separate wallet containing all information and transaction records relating to that right or asset. This design not only streamlines the management and transaction process of intellectual property, but also provides greater transparency and security.

Additionally, EIP6551 provides greater flexibility for intellectual property transactions and licensing. For example, a music producer can associate their music work with an NFT and use that NFT as a standalone wallet. When someone wants to buy or license the song, they only need to trade that NFT without directly dealing with the producer. This design streamlines the transaction process, increases efficiency, and ensures that rights holders’ rights are protected.

Some of my opinions

I think a lot of articles based on story protocols are quite vague. I think the concept of network state is too dependent on users and ecology. We know another big problem with IP is independence. As a simple example, why can’t we see the combination of Harry Potter and Twilight? Don’t talk to me about the same humanities; that’s not orthodox use. Because the original IP was independent and had its own story line. Well, who will build this network still needs to rely on users and ecology. I think the future of Infinite is probably here. However, as a result of this, I think the story protocol is not aimed at originality; in fact, it is more about co-creation or two-creation. This is probably why the Story Protocol team described IP as Git. Everyone makes their own fork based on the original, then creates new stories/endings/characters, then buys characters from other IPs and combines them into unlimited text hahahaha. I also agree with their team that the current copyright framework is not conducive to the principles of openness on the Internet. Relaxed restraints could lead to a new narrative.

Comparing my previous point, probably the biggest point was figuration and abstraction. Currently, many of the things we talk about in Story Protocol are quite abstract, but the core idea is certainly the same, and the purpose is to solve intellectual property issues. My plan focuses more on specific implementation and operation. Through the “NFT set NFT” model, an independent NFT is created for each type of copyright subsidiary right, thus realizing visual management of copyright. The core of this approach is “decoupling of rights,” that is, decoupling property owners from their rights, and linking this relationship to NFTs. Story Protocol, on the other hand, places more emphasis on openness and collaboration, and provides a more macroscopic and abstract perspective on the IP lifecycle and transactions. Story Protocol’s emphasis is on creating a system that can track the origin and evolution of IP and provide frictionless licensing and hybrid IP modules. Although both aim to address the same core problem, their approach and focus are different. My plan provides a more specific and operational solution, while Story Protocol provides a more open and collaborative framework.

Finally, let’s talk about the difficulties

New technology is bound to bring new pain and opportunities

Let’s talk about the difficulties of blockchain and property rights. In fact, the innovation of new technology usually brings many new problems, just as new functions disrupt existing logic. Let’s talk about some of the more important points, technical acceptance, piracy, and transaction transparency.

Acceptance

Over the past 5,000 years, human civilization has experienced rapid progress, and we have now produced trillions of data. By contrast, blockchain technology has only a short history of more than a decade. This time difference has led to a clear learning curve, requiring relevant stakeholders to invest significant time and resources to understand and adapt to this new technology. Within the blockchain industry, we know that the user threshold is one of the major challenges facing today. For the average user, this novel and relatively complex technology requires a great deal of education and dissemination work. Especially when it comes to a field with a long history such as intellectual property, promotion and cooperation is even more difficult.

There are significant differences in the management and enforcement of intellectual property rights between countries, as each country has its own laws and standards. Although on-chain intellectual property may adopt uniform on-chain standards, this does not mean that it can be perfectly integrated with each country’s legal system. This has created an additional barrier for the government to adopt and implement this new technology. To overcome this challenge, we need an open and uniform standard. Only when all participants follow this standard can countries make localized improvements based on this, thereby streamlining processes and ensuring the smooth flow of cross-border transactions.

Finally, the attitude and engagement of government is critical. Generally, governments have a conservative view of accepting and regulating new technologies. To ensure the widespread application of blockchain technology in the field of intellectual property, we need to establish close partnerships with governments and regulators to ensure that the new technology is consistent with existing laws and regulations.

Plagiarism and infringement

Before discussing the two major topics of plagiarism and infringement, I want to clarify one point of view. This is an issue that my mentor once mentioned. That is, no matter how advanced technology is, no technology, including blockchain, can completely avoid or eliminate human misconduct such as plagiarism and infringement. We cannot fully control or prevent people’s behavioral choices. But on-chain intellectual property does provide us with a powerful tool, which is affirmation of rights. In traditional intellectual property disputes, the entire process can be roughly divided into two stages: evidence collection and adjudication. Through blockchain technology, we can greatly accelerate the efficiency of forensic collection, thereby shortening the overall dispute processing time. Simply put, the application of this technology can speed up dispute resolution, reduce the resulting damage, and increase the cost and risk of infringement, thereby indirectly raising its criminal threshold. However, no matter how we change the narrative, we are still unable to avoid on-chain plagiarism, off-chain plagiarism, or off-chain plagiarism, or ecological plagiarism. This piece of talk may require the help of the community and AI. Finally, let me explain plagiarism, which may be more difficult to understand than infringement. In fact, in the strict sense of the word, only a few types of plagiarism are possible. Direct copying, or rewriting, or structure and ideas. However, it is difficult to determine if it is an inspirational type of plagiarism that is to blame. It’s like the gameplay is similar but the core is not the same, so it doesn’t constitute plagiarism.

transparently

One of the core strengths of blockchain technology is its transparency, but it also poses a range of challenges and issues. First, privacy issues have become a major concern. Since all transactions are public and users are anonymous, creators’ privacy may still be at risk, especially when it comes to copyright transactions and revenue distribution. This could not only reveal the identity of the creators, but also the amount of their transactions and other sensitive information. Second, excessive transparency can be risky. While transparency can increase trust and verifiability, it can also lead to the disclosure of certain information that should not be disclosed, such as the creator’s contact information, contract details, etc. Finally, the immutability of blockchain data is also a double-edged sword. On the one hand, this ensures the authenticity and integrity of the data, but on the other hand, it also means that once the data is added to the chain, any erroneous or outdated information is permanent and cannot be corrected or removed. This could lead to legal disputes or other issues, particularly in the field of intellectual property.

epilogue

Recently, I’ve been planning to write an article on on-chain intellectual property (IP). In fact, the reason I chose this industry is largely due to my keen interest in on-chain IP. In my opinion, while most of the current focus is on digital currencies, intellectual property is an area where innovation and change is urgently needed.

I’m passionate about this field not only because of its commercial potential, but more because I see its impact on the future. I’m even considering this as the direction of my PhD research. It’s not just a career choice, but also expectations and ideals for the future.

Intellectual property, particularly successful IPs, has tremendous value and potential. In the case of “Harry Potter,” this enduring IP has proven its enduring appeal and value. However, under the traditional intellectual property management model, many excellent IPs are often restricted by platforms and intermediaries, so their potential is not fully exploited.

Blockchain technology, on the other hand, provides us with a new perspective and tools to make intellectual property management more transparent, fair and efficient. Through blockchain technology, we hope to break the constraints of tradition and create a low-friction, decentralized intellectual property management ecosystem.

I am writing this article not only to share my views and ideas, but also to help readers understand more deeply why blockchain and intellectual property should be combined and what we are striving to achieve. I hope this article has enlightened you, and that in the future, the intellectual property world will become more just and more prosperous because of our efforts.

referencing

Special thanks to Mr. Sleep, Story, Story Protocol
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1338& context=njtip

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