NFTs License
What Collectors CAN or CAN'T DO with your items
Last updated
What Collectors CAN or CAN'T DO with your items
Last updated
Although not very highlighted on any of the existing marketplaces in the industry right now, the topic of the License is a crucial one that can protect both the Creator and the Collector, establishing more clarity in what is the role of each of the participants in this exchange and the permissions for using and displaying the NFT. FOTON aims to push creators to be more aware of this topic by adding a mandatory metadata field of License for any NFT minted on the Marketplace. Since NFTs can't be usually altered after mint, it is essential that the "Rules of the game" are clear for both parties.
The Creator can choose from a set of established license frameworks or even add a custom one as an Attached file. Below is a set of initial Frameworks and Licenses FOTON set to be easily added to NFTs:
Probably most known framework for creative rights, although not tailored specifically for NFTs. Read full descriptions on the official webpage.
There are seven variants of the CC license:
CC BY = Credit must be given to the Creator.
CC BY-SA = Credit must be given to the Creator + Adaptations must be Shared under the same terms.
CC BY-NC = Credit must be given to the Creator + Only NonCommercial uses of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-SA = Credit must be given to the Creator + Only NonCommercial uses of the work are permitted + Adaptations must be Shared under the same terms.
CC BY-ND = Credit must be given to the Creator + No Derivatives or Adaptations of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-ND = Credit must be given to the Creator + Only NonCommercial uses of the work are permitted + No Derivatives or Adaptations of the work are permitted.
CC0 (aka CC Zero) = Is a public dedication tool, which enables creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.
This Licensing framework was created by the VC Firm A16Z specially for the use case of NFTs. Compared with the CC framework this one considers more the Decentralised Technology and the fact that NFTs function as an ownership contract between the Collector and Creator. More about it here and here on Github. Despite the fact that the name is a bit unfortunate, to say the least, the Framework is a pretty good attempt to help the NFT industry. (We might fork it and rename it in the future since it's Open Source).
There are six variants of the CantBeEvil license:
CBE-Public = CC0 – All copyrights are waived under the terms of CC0 1.0 Universal developed by Creative Commons.
CBE-Exclusive = Exclusive Commercial Rights with No Creator Retention – Full exclusive commercial rights granted, with no hate speech termination. Creator does not retain any exploitation rights.
CBE-Commercial = Non-Exclusive Commercial Rights – Full non-exclusive commercial rights granted, with no hate speech termination. Creator retains exploitation rights.
CBE-Commercial-No-Hate = Non-Exclusive Commercial Rights with Creator Retention & Hate Speech Termination – Full non-exclusive commercial rights granted, with hate speech termination. Creator retains exploitation rights.
CBE-Personal = Personal License – Personal rights granted, without hate speech termination.
CBE-Personal No Hate = Personal License with Hate Speech Termination – Personal rights granted, with hate speech termination.
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works.
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. More details here.
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license compatibility. More details here.
The Apache License is a permissive free software license written by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). It allows users to use the software for any purpose, to distribute it, to modify it, and to distribute modified versions of the software under the terms of the license, without concern for royalties. The ASF and its projects release their software products under the Apache License. The license is also used by many non-ASF projects. More details here.
In case you want to add a custom file as license you can do so by switching the toggle and uploading a PDF, TXT or any other type of file. Once minted this file will be uploaded permanently to IPFS. Keep in mind this file is public and can be viewed by anyone once the NFT is minted.
We might add an option for private files with encryption for more sensitive contracts in the future, although you can do it also manually by yourself right now, if you know how to encrypt files.
For very unique use cases we allow also the option to don't mention a License, although we don't recommend it as it leaves space for misunderstandings between the parties involved.
Disclaimer! Keep in mind that it's your duty to choose the right License and FOTON is not responsible in any way for any damage due to the License and neither can change the License after the mint of the NFT has occurred. Once set, this license will remain unchanged forever for the NFT it is attached to. (The only way to update it in the future is if you offer a new NFT all-together to the Collector in exchange, and burn the old one). Choose wisely! :)
