The Property Law of Crypto Tokens

This article addresses the lack of comprehensive studies on Web3 technologies, primarily due to lawyers' reluctance to explore technical intricacies. Understanding the underlying technological foundations is crucial to enhance the credibility of legal opinions. This article aims to illuminate these foundations, debunk myths, and concentrate on determining the legal status of crypto-assets in the context of property rights within the distributed economy. In addition, this article notes that the intangible nature of crypto-assets that derive value from distributed registries, and their resistance to deletion, makes crypto-assets more akin to the autonomy of intellectual property than physical media. The article presents illustrative examples from common law (United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand) and civil law (Germany, Austria, Poland) systems. Proposing a universal solution, it advocates a comprehensive framework safeguarding digital property - data ownership - extending beyond the confines of Web3. This article presents a comprehensive, multi-layered approach to the analysis of tokens as digital content and virtual goods. The approach, universally applicable to various of such goods, scrutinizes property on three distinct layers: first, the rights to the virtual good itself; second, the rights to the assets linked to the virtual good; and third, the rights to the intellectual property intricately associated with the token. Additionally, the paper provides concise analysis of the conflict of laws rules applicable to virtual goods. It also delves into issues concerning formal requirements for the transfer of intellectual property rights, licensing, the first sale (exhaustion) doctrine, the concept of the lawful acquirer, and other crucial aspects of intellectual property in the realm of virtual goods, particularly within the emerging metaverse.Comment: Legal Status of Crypto Tokens (FT, NFT, etc.

Non-Fungible Tokens: A Solution to the Challenges of Using Blockchain Bills of Lading in the International Sales of Goods

The non-fungible token (NFT) has emerged as a way of authenticating unique digital assets. Thus artists have started selling digital artwork authenticated by NFTs, gaming companies can sell unique in-game products, and athletic leagues have started selling digital “cards” depicting key moments in sporting events. Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs are applications of blockchain technology. A blockchain is a series of cryptographically linked records. The blockchain itself is “public” in the sense that every transaction is visible to all participants. But an encrypted block cannot be changed without altering all prior blocks – and alerting all other users in the blockchain. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs differ in a critical respect. A unit of cryptocurrency is a fungible token, meaning it is identical to any other unit of cryptocurrency. In the same way that one Euro is equal to any other Euro, one Bitcoin has the same value and same characteristics as any other Bitcoin. An NFT, by contrast, is uniquely identified in the blockchain. So while one NFT may have the same market value as another NFT, no two NFTs are the same. This means NFTs are not useful as currency, but are valuable as incorruptible identifiers. NFTs have other useful attributes. For example, they inherently include ownership information. This means that the NFT itself indicates who owns it—when it was created and by whom, who controls it now, and every transaction leading from the original to the current owner—at all times. Also, they are “extensible.” This means that NFTs can be added together or merged in order to create a new NFT in a traceable way. There are, of course, other digital representations of physical assets. Goods already are stamped with bar or QR codes, expensive products typically have serial numbers or other unique identifiers, and software often is accompanied by one- time-only passwords. But none of these are cryptographically secure in the way NFTs are, and none of them combine proof of authenticity and proof of ownership in a single instrument. The bill of lading is a venerable institution in international trade. Evolving over centuries and well developed by the time of the medieval lex mercatoria, the bill of lading is a paper form specifically contemplated and described in the key treaties enabling modern cross-border sales of goods—the Vienna Convention, the Hague- Visby Rules, and the U.S. Carriage of Goods by Sea Act. It indicates ownership of goods in transit, evidences the terms of the contract of carriage, and shows where, when, and to whom the goods were conveyed at every step between origin and ultimate destination. As a paper document, however, the bill of lading (often in multiple counterparts) is a critical bottleneck and source of risk. Proposals to update paper bills of lading with an electronic equivalent have circulated for many years. And with the development of blockchain technology a decade ago, more recent proposals have discussed putting bills of lading on a blockchain. But these proposals are incomplete, because the blockchain is merely a ledger. An NFT on a blockchain, however, is the ideal replacement for bills of lading and other documents reflecting passage of title. Each change of ownership of an NFT is publicly documented in the NFT’s blockchain ledger. Done right, the NFT itself, in each block, contains both an incorruptible copy of the bill of lading and a complete chain of custody. And the fact that NFTs are extensible means a business can verify both components and finished goods. This paper will discuss using NFTs as a substitute for traditional bills of lading

The Multimodal Electronic Transferable Transport Record (ETTR) : A Survey of Laws and Basic Concepts

A transport document is a receipt issued by the carrier of goods upon taking possession of them under a contract for their carriage. It is a document of title when its transfer may facilitate not only the transfer of the right to claim the goods from the carrier but also the transfer of title to the goods. Particularly in relation to the carriage of goods other than by sea, and by reference to banking and commercial practices, this study surveys the current legal position of both digitization and negotiability of transport documents. This is done with a view to preparing the ground for the establishment of a legal basis for a multimodal Electronic Transferable Transport Record (ETTR) of which control will be functionally equivalent to the possession of a negotiable tangible document of title. Views as to the need for a multimodal ETTR are divided and may not be the same across all industries and geographic regions. Nonetheless in some industries and regions the demand for an ETTR is genuine and merits a solution. To meet this demand the study recommends the treatment of the document of title under the American UCC Article 7 as the starting point for an ETTR project

The E-Banknote as a \u27Banknote\u27 : A Monetary Law Interpreted

The article discusses whether an electronic banknote is a ‘banknote’. The issue is dealt with as a matter of general statutory interpretation in the context of evolving technologies and institutional arrangements. The article proposes a clear terminology to address concepts underlying digital currencies and access to central bank money and argues that a banknote may be ‘written’ electronically. The article is critical of both account-based Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and cryptocurrencies and highlights features of nonblockchain token-based alternatives. It sheds light on considerations affecting the selection of a design which is appropriate from both a functional and legal perspective and addresses architectural models for the issuance of e-banknotes

Electronic Bills of Lading. A legal study of the development of e-B/Ls

MasteroppgaveJUS39

Digitalization of Maritime Transport Documents : a study of the interplay of public rules and private norms amid social changes

The digitalization of maritime transport documents has became the chokepoint of promoting the automation level of the shipping industry. The lack of stable expectation is, among other things, the main reason that preventing international seaborne trade participants to apply digitalization solution. A harmonized legal framework worldwide would be the first step towards achieving stable expectation of applying electronic maritime transport documents. By employing the doctrinal method and the functional method of comparative law, the book draws a landscape of electronic law today and examined the effect of public international legislation. The empirical study suggests that actors across branches have developed workable standards towards the use of electronic documents by introducing compatible bylaws. The interactions between these private actors and their bylaws provide a possibility to achieve legal unification and self-evolvement of law on the global sphere. Deducting from the empirical results, the book proposes a private regulatory system as an alternative for achieving legal unification for the digitalization of maritime transport documents