By Michael Scott
Mintable chief executive Zach Burks warns the United Kingdom government against regulating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a piece of artwork. The executive lamented that the UK government lacks a grasp of the NFTs’ identity.
The United Kingdom’s government is in danger of regulating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in a manner that is unsuitable to the ideal nature of the nascent technology. Burks indicates that the recent report by the UK Parliamentary Committee exaggerates the NFTs’ role.
Burks Warns Against Erroneous Consideration of NFTs Identity and Role in Copyright Infringement
Burks concerns arise from erroneous consideration of NFTs’ role in copyright infringement. Also, the Mintable chief executive laments that the parliamentary report fails to recognize that NFTs are more than volatile digital pictures.
Burks explained that NFTs are undergoing a transition as they ditch the speculative boom associated with PFPs. The executive observed that NFTs are transitioning into utility brands that implement NFTs across diverse things.
Burks criticism of UK legislators’ consideration of NFTs arises from the October 11 report by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. The report recommended the UK government enforce actions to safeguard the artists and content creators from potential copyright infringement from the NFTs.
Copyright Infringement and Contravening Intellectual Property Rights Inherent in Internet
Burks confessed his support for copyright protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights for content creators and artists. The protection is essential, as illustrated by Mintable’s deploying an in-house IP protection algorithm to avert plagiarism on the platform.
Burks admits that though the protections highlighted above should be prioritized across all NFT platforms, they are beyond NFT-specific concerns. The chief executive indicated that the challenges are inherent to the internet and not the NFTs.
Burks poked into the conclusion by regulators that NFTs are presently utilized for copyright infringement. He indicated that the problem lies with WordPress, YouTube, and Spotify. He inquired how the regulators were combating such cases. The Mintable executive revealed that the most advanced tech companies led by Google are working on resolving the challenges.
Burks points out that despite the hundreds of billion dollars in Google Inc., the tech giant still struggles to resolve the challenge of copyrighted content on YouTube. The executive indicates that the existence of the copyright infringement is now new. Consequently, he faults the UK parliamentarians for portraying NFTs as the source of copyright infringement.
Burks, who acknowledged his weekly correspondence input with the UK government officials regarding NFTs, opined that NFT platforms should deploy resources towards protecting the artists. Nonetheless, regulators are responsible and should embrace the more nuanced perspective on NFTs.
Regulate NFTs for Specific USage
Burks demonstrated that there are multiple ways one can use the NFTs. The Mintable CEO showed that NFT usage extends to car records, property records, and backup layers. The use extends to the entire supply chain system or biofuels firm. Consequently, NFTs go beyond a piece of artwork and not a financial instrument. He considers NFT as effectively a website.
Burks considers NFTs to be comprehensive technology with the capacity to play different functions. He faulted the Committee for declaring NFTs as digital art pieces. By doing so, the legislators erred not to understand the actual utility of the tech.
The Committee directed the UK government to enforce the EU 17 copyright directive targeting the NFTs. Burks considers such as likely to umbrella the broad scope.
The report indicated that the pressing concern highlighted by NFTs is the risk they pose to artists by contravening intellectual property rights. The concerns arise from the ease and speed of minting the tokens. Resolving the issue would involve deploying the narrow copyright provisions outlined in Article 17 of the European Union Directive on Copyright.
Burks considers the argument by lawmakers that all NFTs need a single regulatory coverage, implying the need to have the legislation piece applied to the technology. Doing so should have begun from Edison’s light bulb to modern-day Tesla. Burks considers that the regulatory frameworks should consider NFTs as a system and not their identities.
Burks urges the UK government to consider replicating the approach deployed in Singapore. The Asian country’s regulators have the government judging the NFTs relative to their specific usage.
Burks supports the Singaporean’s approach of treating NFTs as per their usage. NFTs of Tesla stock deserve security treatment. NFTs related to Cocaine should receive similar treatment as illicit drugs.