- DC Comics is planning to get into the NFT game, according to its Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs
- Jay Kogan sent a letter to DC Comics employees and freelancers in which he said the studio was working towards an NFT offering
- Former DC artist José Delgo recently made $1.85 million selling his old Wonder Woman drawings as NFTs
DC Comics could be about to enter the NFT world, according to its Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs, and it is trying to stop its artists cashing in on the company’s intellectual property. In a letter sent to DC staff and freelancers and leaked online, Jay Kogan said that the company was “exploring opportunities to enter the market” and warned against anyone selling images related to the DC Comics universe. The warning comes after former DC Comics artist José Delgo made $1.85 million selling his old Wonder Woman drawings as NFTs.
We’re already seeing AT&T / DC Comics clamp down on their artists selling original artwork of their characters…https://t.co/QVYIr0c5qA
— Zach (@zherring) March 13, 2021
Copyright Infringement Already a Big Issue
Kogan’s letter was prompted by Delgo’s actions and underlines a concern that is already being raised in the NFT space – copyright infringement. With NFTs coming out of nowhere to eclipse even Bitcoin for media coverage, brands are facing potential copyright infringement on a grand scale, and DC Comics is doing what it can to protect its intellectual property.
Artists sign agreements with studios that whatever they create while working for the studio is the property of the studio and not the artist, meaning that old drawings are not the work of the artist, while standard copyright laws prevent anyone from making money using characters from the DC Comics universe.
DC Comics “Exploring Opportunities” to Enter NFT Market
So far so boring for DC Comics/NFT fans, but more exciting was to come:
DC is exploring opportunities to enter the market for the distribution and sale of original digital art with NFTS including both new art created specifically for the NFT market, as well as original art rendered for DC’s comic book publications.
The move from such a storied company as DC Comics into the NFT world was all but inevitable, and lends more credence to the suggestion that they represent the next evolution in the world of collectibles, rather than being the passing fad that many mainstream media publications believe them to be.
In one of the most meta things we have ever seen, the now-removed tweet which contained the letter was itself tokenized and put up for sale by someone not affiliated in any way with the company:
Favourite NFT content of the day via @BoingBoing
DC Comics cease and desist letter from March 11 for sale on OpenSea, currently at $945.66USDhttps://t.co/AiMUZgjTYi— Melanie K Hayes (@melkhayes) March 14, 2021
Now that’s irony.
