Italy to Use Blockchain for Intellectual Property and Copyright

Blockchain technology is finding applications in the field of copyright, both with regard to the protection of the ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) works and for their exploitation for economic purposes. In these contexts platforms such as Tutelio arise on one side and DTube on the other.

DTube is a community based video sharing platform where users vote on videos to reward creators, curators, influencers and viewers in cryptocurrency.

The advent of blockchain tech is slowly but profoundly changing the scenarios also as regards copyright. In fact, platforms that aim to exploit the reliability of this technology for the protection of intellectual property or who intend to revolutionize the classic models of its patrimonial exploitation are flourishing.   

Protecting Intellectual Property   

Blockchain-based platforms such as LCA Studio Legale, Tutelio and Creativitysafe are emerging as an alternative to the traditional repositories of intellectual works at SIAE, at a much lower price and with much faster procedures.   

Different blockchain platforms for property rights protection have been recently created in Italy. Some offer storage and digital management services for intangible assets like Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Clients will be in a position to conduct various strategic matters for the management, conservation and protection of rights, in an attempt to reduce the risks of dispersion and loss of Intellectual Property rights.   

It is appropriate to recall here, because it is a misunderstanding in which many authors fall, that the deposit of a work is not necessary to protect the same for the purposes of the Law on Copyright, since the latter, in art. 6, protect the work since its creation. The deposit serves only to constitute an incontrovertible proof of paternity, to avert the danger that could be doubted by third parties.   

It should also be remembered that deposits of this type are by no means obligatory, but merely faculties. Furthermore, in the near future, the blockchain also lends itself to providing a convenient tool for traceability of licenses and / or assignments of the aforementioned rights to publishers, newspapers, music labels, in particular when in the relative contracts Sublicences or subsequent transfers are contemplated.   

Reaching Great Heights with Blockchain  

This could greatly facilitate the search for the owners in all those cases where a work is no longer on the market for a long time and someone wants to republish it. A circumstance that currently can present very nebulous and inaccessible paths, because unfortunately there is no general database where the passage of editorial rights is traced.  

With the use of blockchain technology it is possible to grasp the great ferment in progress, which is a prelude to undoubtedly innovative scenarios but with a double aspect: on the one hand, the difficulty of regulating any illegal content, on the other the great freedom for the creativity of individuals accompanied not only by the guarantee of respect for their moral rights, but also by a more adequate remuneration.   

Particularly striking is the Snapparazzi auction: given that often, at least in Italy, newspapers misappropriate images or videos simply by downloading them from the social profiles of individuals, not only without even dreaming of asking for permission and remunerating them but, sometimes, not even citing them as a source this is certainly a significant step forward even with regard to global education to legality.

Source text:  https://it.coinidol.com/italia-utilizzera-copyright/