Seth Green is a full-on NFT bro, so much so that he created a television show based around, and starring four NFTs he's purchased.
There's only one problem though…his main character was recently stolen.
Last Saturday, Green tweeted a preview of the show, which he explained to in an interview with entrepreneur and crypto nut Gary Vaynerchuk, that he wanted to imagine a universe where "it doesn't matter what you look like, what only matters is your attitude."
Unfortunately for Green, his main character, a scruffy Bored Ape named Fred Simian (also known as Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398) was stolen by a scammer in early May and apparently, lost the commercial rights to the Bored Ape in the process.
Green said per Buzzfeed News, "I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show. Then days before — his name is Fred by the way — days before he's set to make his world debut, he's literally kidnapped."
One of the NFTs was already flipped for $42,000. The Bored Ape in question was sold sold by the scammer to a pseudonymous collector known as "DarkWing84," who purchased it for more than $200,000! The NFT was then quickly transferred to a collection called "GBE_Vault," where it currently resides.
According to Daniel Dubin, a tax and litigation attorney at Alston & Bird LL, if the current owner "wanted to cause trouble for Seth Green they probably could, because that person becomes the holder" of the commercial usage rights.
Dubin sai that NFT copyright law can be "a particularly thorny issue," and has only begun to be tested in court.
As for the future of his show, Green maintains it's moving forward as scheduled, despite any copright laws because the art was "stolen."
Dublin said of the matter that because NFTs aren't physical goods, "it's interesting to imagine the different ways that IP rights can be affected, and the interesting new IP issues that can arise from the fact. I think we're just scratching the surface."
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