In order to prove the authenticity of an art piece, you first need to assess the authenticity of the creator. It is too easy for anyone out there to steal digital art pieces (google and save-as) from not-so-well-known artists, and pretend it is theirs, as they mint the NFT from an anonymous address on the blockchain. It would be so reassuring for all the subsequent buyers (first sale and resale) of such NFT to buy with a proof of authenticity, and to have clarity on what they own exactly. At its heart, this is what this solution is proposing to address.
By using DIDs and certificates, a decentralised app could provide what follows:
- adding an authenticity certificate, issued by an issuer (the artist), on the holder (in our case the NFT itself ; that means the NFT is also referred with its own DID) ;
- verifying an authenticity certificate via a properly accredited body (program) acting as a verifier
- enrolling an artist (known by his DID) into the authenticity program to allow this artist to issue certificates on certain NFTs
- removing an artist from the authenticity program, therefore preventing this person to issue an authenticity certificate to any NFT
- flagging an artist as a scam artist (therefore all his signed authenticity NFTs would become flagged as scam too)
- adding a rights certificate (such as rights to print, rights to resale, rights to reproduce, etc…) issued by an issuer (initially the artist, but then the current owner), on the NFT itself. Such rights follow the NFT's life.
A fully enrolled creator would be able to add an authenticity certificate to any NFT. An NFT buyer would be able to verify the certificate of authenticity of the NFT by accessing a simple URL (given as part of the metadata of this NFT). The minter/creator would also be able to add a set of rights specifying what this NFT can be used for, which can also be verified by anyone on-chain. The next owner of this NFT could restrict further the rights of the NFT on sale (for example, selling the NFT without its original physical reproduction rights).
Web3 transactions of goods and services require trust and be explicit as to what is agreed by the transaction.
In regards to trust, this is not just about the trust that the transaction can be executed, which most ecosystems provide. Most importantly, in consideration of transacting NFTs, it is about the trust that the buyer is who she says she is (would you agree to sell to a Bot?), that the seller is who she says she is (would you agree to buy from a scam-artist?), and in our case, that the transacted object (the NFT representing the digital art) is also what is it supposed to represent. When you buy the NFT and end up with ownership of it, you want to be sure that you also own a digital version of this art which was not counterfeited, and which comes with an authenticity stamp from its creator.
In regards to rights, the NFT will come with a clear set of copyrights, what is permitted, and what is not. Each new owner in the chain inherits the rights set by the previous owner, allowing such owner to pass on the NFT with less rights than when he received it, and therefore possibly keep some rights even after the sale (yes, past owners may want to exercise the right to keep some rights!).
This Proof of Authenticity and Proof of Rights for NFTs minted on Cardano will elevate the Cardano ecosystem by adding trust, transparency, clarity (governance) via smart contracts.
This project is likely going to evolve into a larger one, since it is such a necessary piece of infrastructure in the Cardano eco-system. A few years from now, we will wonder how we were accepting transacting NFTs without any proof of origin, or any copyright associated to them. This is like buying blindly and without certainty of what you ultimately own, thinking that someone else will want it even more later…
As a consequence, the main challenge will be to contain this project into something that is self-sufficient, but that delivers value. This is why it has been restricted initially to authenticity and copyright, but it will likely require future evolutions around some improved validation and certification of the artists themselves, of the verifiers (how can you be sure that a particular verifier is trustworthy) and even possibly of the rules of exchange between buyers and sellers. For example, one could think that in the future, certain NFTs would require buyers with certain attributes. We have contained this project as much as possible to avoid those risks of a very large backlog of features.
Another risk is the dependency on third party systems (such Atala PRISM SDK for the DIDs), but this is a reasonable risk considering the improved maturity of the underlying solution.
Finally, the risk of over-running the planning has been mitigated by a relatively safe and detailed plan which spans over 5-6 months, with clearly identified responsibilities and deliveries.