Interview with digital artist Kefan404: Copyright, NFT's Achilles heel

Article: 0x13, Rhythm BlockBeats

Achilles, the invulnerable god of war, was finally defeated by a poisoned arrow in his ankle. The only weakness in his body cost him his life.

Copyright issues have been associated with NFT since its birth, and in the art of Encryption sub-section, copyright issues have been mentioned but never solved "the problem of the century".

Copyright issues have plagued digital artists since before the NFT was born.

The artist who beat the Kardashians

"The forms of digital art works being infringed are generally divided into personal acts and commercial acts, provided that the works are not copied or modified." Kefan404 said.

Kefan404 (B. 1996), born in Zhejiang province and now living in Germany, is a digital artist who has a lot to say about copyright issues.

It's March 2020.

When Beeple landed at Christie's, it sold for a whopping $69 million; That's when Kefan404 posted a tweet accusing Kim Kardashian of copyright infringement.

It all started when Kim Kardashian posted digital artwork created by Kefan404 on her social media without identifying the creator. Although in daily life, many people will publish their favorite pictures on weibo, circle of Friends and other social media, and few people will deliberately mark the original author, but in fact, this is also a form of infringement. The lack of copyright awareness and respect for artists shown by a celebrity like Kardashian is a big part of kefan404's outrage.

"Isolated treat individual personal tort does not seem to be so serious, but if a piece of heat is very high, repeatedly, then soon there will be a nine hands digital images, the works of wrapped slurry and everybody does not know who the author is, most people in the process of transmission also seldom go to trace, even don't care who the author is."

But the matter was eventually settled, with Kefan404 receiving an apology and $1 in damages, and Kim Kardashian being named an artist. But after all, this is a minority, the vast majority of such forms of infringement is difficult to trace, the artist himself is difficult to know, rights protection is also impossible to talk about.

Kung Fu Can't Save Gotham City. Kefan404

Does the NFT really protect copyright?

Kefan404 has also joined the ranks of NFT art creators, selling their work on various platforms including Foundation. Recently, Kefan404's "Homeland Is Hard to Leave" was sold on Wave C for 1.18ETH. The revenue from NFT also made the digital artist realize that "digital art has the same commercial possibilities as traditional art sales, after all, NFT has largely solved the two problems of unlimited reproduction and ownership of digital art works".

Kefan404 is an excellent artist specializing in digital art, interaction and visual design. His works have been published in Dezeen, mercedes-benz official owner, porsche lifestyle "Type7", and has carried out three-way cross-border cooperation with hyundai motor and Boston dynamics. His long-term project blurred Boundaries, which began in 2019, began with his identification and exploration of the concept of "perception as reality", and sought to find the balance and constraints between perception and reality in a series of works with surrealistic and subrealistic themes.

"There is no god, artificial god" kefan404

Before contacting NFT, he did not think about how much money he could earn, just for the sake of releasing his overflowing desire for expression. His initial income came from the same sources as most digital artists: posters, sidekicks, commercial licenses.

There is no need to say more about the income from making posters. Peripheral means that platforms like RedBubble will provide a complete solution for artists. Artists only need to upload their works and choose which peripheral products to put on the shelves, and the platform will be responsible for the sales, production and logistics. Commercial licenses include the use of album covers by independent musicians, and commercial lists of brand partners.

It has also been revealed on social media that some digital art creators make "rules" with buyers before selling their works, requiring them not to be commercially available or even displayed on social media. It's fair to say that before NFT came on the scene, copyright issues made it difficult for digital artists to sell their work.

The emergence of NFT has made many digital artists optimistic about copyright protection, thinking that NFT makes their copyright protected, but Kefan404 does not think so.

"The NFT does help with self-identification by providing a way for all to see that is easier and more convenient than issuing a source document." Kefan404, however, think that this identity since the card also need creator's long-term operation of social media, through social media after let your true identity and address in the chain of "binding", although this way don't like to use social media or not often operating social media artists are not friendly, but "it is much better than not this step".

Kefan404 believes that NFT does not play a role in the copyright problem in the process of dissemination of works. In terms of the definition and processing of copyright and copyright, it is no different from the traditional art trade. "Even because of the display mechanism of some platforms, the original resolution of works can be downloaded."

Home is hard to Leave. Kefan404

In addition, perhaps we should also reflect on whether the current NFT has helped protect copyright, or reduced the cost and increased the revenue of copyright infringement.

First of all, most of the current NFT works of art are digital works of art, which can still be copied and saved, and everyone can use the same picture to recasting an NFT by himself. Moreover, unlike the Internet real-name system, the addresses on the blockchain are anonymous, and there is no solution even if they are infringed. At present, what OpenSea and other platforms can do is to remove infringing NFT, and cannot punish infringers, which undoubtedly greatly reduces the cost of infringement.

In addition, if there is no buyer who has fully researched the works and works to buy a fake, due to the decentralization of the blockchain, it is impossible to recover the lost property, for infringers, they can use their works at will to cast NFT, and if they are lucky to sell, they do not have to worry about the subsequent disputes, which is equivalent to "zero cost".

Is most recent discussions about this photographer Ding Gang taken this painting flowers of mill, works on the day of release caused the entire network, countless people to download and upload photos to OpenSea platform, such as casting into NFT, there are some people on the basis of the original added some filters and euphemistically called "secondary creation". Kefan404 bluntly said, "Using StyleGAN as an oil filter is not really a second creation." Kefan404 "always felt very angry, but also helpless, a deep sense of powerlessness."

When it comes to whether open NFT platforms like OpenSea need more central regulation, Kefan404 lists what content platforms like YouTube and Instagram do to warn of potential infringement by comparing them to their databases. Appeals by creators also tend to get a quick response. However, very few projects in the NFT field are doing this. And the more serious problem is that at present, most of the infringement problems need to be discovered by the original author, after the complaint can be found and dealt with, so even if the platform wants to regulate this problem is often not enough, KEFAN404 also expects the future will be born some focus on copyright protection blockchain projects.

The Solar Rain. Kefan404

The copyright problem has always existed, and it has always been difficult to solve, and the solution can not rely on individuals, but the efforts of every person in the society. Kefan404 is an artist who is often infringed. As a party, he urgently hopes that the whole people can improve their respect and awe for copyright. Meanwhile, creators should not only restrain their own behavior and never cross the absolute red line of plagiarism and piracy, but also unite. To stand up together, to stand together when one's rights are violated, because the power and voice of one person are small.

"I am grateful to my friends who have stood up for me in some previous copyright disputes of my own." Kefan404 said.  

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