Copyright, mechanical art, and NFTs

As some of you may be aware, I bought my first Cryptokitty earlier this week (for research, not so I can "enjoy" the ownership of an NFT, whatever that is).

When multiple parties are involved in creating an artwork, and some of those parties are software programs, algorithms, or machines, this can have an interesting impact on the determination of where copyright lies.

Fundamentally, copyright resides with human being (or companies, which are considered persons in this context). After all, a paintbrush is a machine for applying paint to a canvas. And a paintbrush can't own the copyright to something.

So we have a complicated and subtle raft of legislation, and now we're throwing NFTs into the mix.

Should make for a fun spectacle.

Oh, it already has!