Meet the new NFT licenses that 'Can't Be Evil'
Some laws are so weird that you wonder how they ever had a place in our society. For example:
In Hawaii, it's illegal to place a coin in your ear.
In Arkansas, you can't honk your horn near a sandwich shop after 9 p.m.
In Maryland, sleeveless shirts are banned in public parks (have some decency, people).
Meanwhile, some laws still have validity, but need to be updated to compliment new technology - like, for example: copyright licensing and NFTs.
A lot of the top NFT projects grant holders the right to make and sell products, based off the imagery featured in their NFTs.
But there's growing concern that these rights fall into a legal grey area, that makes the licensing less 'durable.'
To quiet any potential doubt moving forward, a16z have drawn up some free-to-use licensing terms, that they're calling "The Can’t Be Evil NFT Licenses."
The “Can’t Be Evil” title is a 'hold my beer' one-up to Google's original “Don’t Be Evil” mantra, that's meant to highlight the benefits of blockchain immutability.
Translation: The humans running Google chose not to be evil, the computers running Web3 can't be evil - they're not sentient.
...unless we were to have a Skynet situation on our hands?
(That was a joke, don't @ us).
The licenses are designed to provide a bunch of air tight optionality, ranging from limited personal use terms to broader licenses that let anyone use the artwork - for any purpose (whether they own an NFT or not).
And sure, copyright law is a total snooze fest...
But establishing boring frameworks like this (in the early days), helps form a sturdy foundation for the rest of Web3 to be built upon.
In which case: two thumbs up, we love to see it!
