Crypto developer Matthew Jensen was forced to close his JRR Token business as part of a settlement with the estate of “Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkein. The estate’s lawyer, Steve Maier, described the case as a “particularly flagrant case of infringement,” adding that the estate is “pleased that it has been concluded on satisfactory terms.”
This is interesting because (in this case) there was someone to sue: a centralized authority named Matthew Jensen, who is a person with a physical address and a known identity. How would this lawsuit have been brought against a DAO or a fully decentralized Web3 site? With no central authority, there would have been no one to sue. How will intellectual property laws adapt? What role will the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) play in a decentralized IP world?
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