Contact
(844) 562-3572
[email protected]
TextBack Number
+1 877-721-2590
Deliveries:
354 Eisenhower Parkway
Suite 1250
Livingston, NJ 07039
- Additional Office Locations
(844) 562-3572
[email protected]
TextBack Number
+1 877-721-2590
Deliveries:
354 Eisenhower Parkway
Suite 1250
Livingston, NJ 07039
NFTs occupy a strange legal middle ground; they’re bought, sold, and collected like valuable property, yet the legal rights that actually come with owning one are often far less clear than buyers and creators assume. An NFT lawyer helps artists, collectors, businesses, and platforms navigate the ownership rights, licensing terms, intellectual property questions, and disputes that come with buying, selling, or creating non-fungible tokens. At the Law Office of Barry E. Janay (LOBEJ), we help clients understand and protect their legal position in the NFT space.
Owning an NFT typically means owning a blockchain record pointing to a piece of digital content; it doesn’t automatically transfer copyright or other intellectual property rights in that content unless the underlying smart contract or licensing terms say so explicitly. This distinction catches many buyers off guard, particularly when they assume purchasing an NFT gives them full commercial rights to reproduce, license, or profit from the underlying artwork or media. Understanding exactly what rights come with a given NFT requires careful review of the platform’s terms, the smart contract itself, and any separate licensing agreement.
For creators and artists, NFTs raise a different set of legal questions: how to properly license or transfer rights when minting an NFT, how to protect against unauthorized copies or “rug pulls,” and how to structure royalty terms that actually hold up as the NFT changes hands in secondary sales. Because smart contracts execute automatically and can be difficult to reverse, getting the legal terms right before minting is far more effective than trying to fix a problem after an NFT has already been sold.
Businesses entering the NFT space, whether launching a collection, using NFTs for loyalty programs, or exploring tokenized assets, face additional considerations around securities law, consumer protection, and intellectual property that require careful legal structuring from the outset. An NFT lawyer helps businesses avoid regulatory pitfalls while building NFT projects that are both legally sound and commercially viable.
NFT-related legal work tends to center on a handful of recurring issues.
Intellectual property rights: Determining and documenting exactly what rights transfer with an NFT sale, commercial use, reproduction rights, or simply ownership of the token itself is one of the most fundamental and frequently misunderstood legal issues in the space.
Licensing and smart contract terms: The specific language in a smart contract and any accompanying license agreement govern what buyers and creators can and can’t do with an NFT, making careful drafting essential before minting or purchasing.
Royalty structuring: Creators often want ongoing royalties from secondary NFT sales, which requires specific technical and legal structuring to ensure those terms are enforceable across different marketplaces.
Fraud and authenticity disputes: NFT scams, counterfeit minting, and unauthorized use of an artist’s work are increasingly common issues that require both legal and technical responses to address effectively.
Regulatory compliance: Depending on how an NFT project is structured, it may raise securities law or consumer protection questions that need to be addressed before launch to avoid regulatory exposure.
Several recurring situations call for legal guidance in the NFT space.
Launching an NFT collection: Artists and businesses preparing to mint and sell an NFT collection benefit from legal review of licensing terms, royalty structures, and platform agreements before launch.
Buying high-value NFTs: Collectors making significant NFT purchases should understand exactly what rights they’re acquiring and verify the authenticity and legal standing of the seller before completing a transaction.
Responding to unauthorized use: Artists who discover their work has been minted as an NFT without permission need prompt legal guidance to pursue takedown requests or other remedies.
Structuring business NFT projects: Companies incorporating NFTs into loyalty programs, membership models, or tokenized products need legal structuring to manage regulatory and intellectual property risk.
Disputes over ownership or authenticity: When an NFT transaction goes wrong- a scam, a disputed sale, or a fraudulent listing, legal guidance helps determine what recovery options are available.
At LOBEJ, NFT-related legal work draws on the same broad legal foundation we apply to other digital asset matters, adapted to the specific issues NFTs present.
For creators and collectors integrating NFTs into their broader estate plans, our wills, trusts, and estate team ensures NFT holdings are properly documented and structured for transfer. Businesses launching NFT projects work with our business law practice to structure the venture appropriately and manage regulatory risk from the outset. When disputes arise over authenticity, unauthorized use, or a failed transaction, our civil litigation team pursues resolution on behalf of artists, collectors, and businesses alike.
NFT holdings are also considered part of broader bankruptcy and debtor protection planning when clients face financial difficulty, and businesses owed payment tied to NFT sales or licensing can turn to our commercial collections team to pursue what they’re owed. Because NFT projects and disputes sometimes intersect with an individual’s broader legal protections, our civil rights practice supports clients whose rights have been unfairly impacted in this space as well.
This integrated approach reflects how NFT legal issues actually arise in practice, rarely in isolation, and often connected to a client’s broader financial and creative interests.
Not automatically. Owning an NFT generally means owning the blockchain token itself, not the copyright to the underlying image, video, or other content, unless the smart contract or licensing agreement explicitly grants those rights. Buyers should carefully review the specific terms attached to an NFT before assuming they have commercial rights to the content it represents.
Unauthorized minting of copyrighted artwork as an NFT is a form of infringement, and artists generally have legal remedies, including takedown requests to marketplaces and potential legal action against the infringer. An NFT lawyer can help identify the fastest and most effective path to addressing unauthorized use, which often depends on the specific platform involved.
Royalty enforcement depends heavily on how the smart contract and marketplace terms are structured, since not all platforms honor royalty terms uniformly across secondary sales. Working with an NFT lawyer before minting helps ensure royalty structures are set up in a way that’s as enforceable as current technology and marketplace practices allow.
Yes, depending on how an NFT project is structured, it may raise securities law, consumer protection, or intellectual property issues that carry real regulatory risk. Legal review before launch helps identify and address these risks, which is far more effective than trying to correct a problem after a project has already gone live.
Before a significant purchase, verify the authenticity of the seller and the NFT itself, review what rights actually transfer with the token, and understand the terms of the underlying smart contract and marketplace. An NFT lawyer can help review these details for particularly high-value transactions to reduce the risk of fraud or misunderstanding.
The below conversational form is designed to help us better understand your needs and determine how we can assist you most effectively. Please answer the questions to the best of your ability.
Phone
(844) 562-3572
Email
[email protected]
Fax
(908) 379-8754
Primary Address
354 Eisenhower Parkway Suite 1250 Livingston, NJ 07039
New York Office
90 Broad St. 25th Floor, New York, NY 10004
Satellite Office
766 Shrewsbury Ave., Suite E-202 Tinton Falls, NJ 07724