Intellectual Property in the Knowledge Economy (Part 1)
Knowledge is the new basis for wealth and IP validates it an economic good…
The Internet is full of people trying to sell you something. The problem is that they're all trying to sell you the same thing. There's nothing wrong with advertising, but when everyone advertises the same way, it's hard for consumers to notice.
Why do you think intellectual property in a knowledge-driven economy is important?
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A General view on Intellectual Property
A simple definition of Intellectual property:
“A kind of property of creations of the human intellect or mind. Creations as such are intangible, but can be commercially exploited if transformed into goods and/or services, either by the rightful owner himself or by a person authorised by him. This directly implies that intellectual property deals with economic rights, which determine ownership over intangible intellectual creations.”
The WIPO Convention defines intellectual property and provides that it shall include rights relating to:
Literary, artistic and scientific works;
Perfomances of performing artists, phonograms, and broadcasts;
Inventions in all fields of human endeavour;
Scientific discoveries;
Industrial designs;
Trademarks, service marks and commercial names and designations;
Protection against unfair competition; and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.
Intellectual Property, by its nature inextricably combines three distinct disciplines - law, economics and management. First, intellectual property is of course a well-defined area of law. Second, the fundamental purpose of this law is to give rise to the creation and enforcement of private entrepreneurial economic rights. And third, when put yo economic use, these rights clearly must be managed by their owners. - Bojan Pretnar
Now that we’ve covered the bases, are you ready to go down the rabbit hole with me?
If so, READ ON!
Enter the Knowledge Economy…
I read Naval’s infamous How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) tweetstorm in 2021.
What stood out to me was that specific knowledge cannot be taught, but it can be learned.
In the future when capitalists talk about their wealth they will be talking about their control of knowledge. - Lester Thurow
It is obvious from the above statements that knowledge is the key factor of progress, growth and wealth! But what is knowledge?
According to Boisot, knowledge builds on information that is extracted from data. In other words, information is meaningful data.
Yet, where do new data and information come from?
BY SIMPLY FINDING AND BUILDING SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE.
The specific knowledge is sort of this weird combination of unique traits from your DNA, your unique upbringing, and your response to it. It’s almost baked into your personality and your identity. Then you can hone it. - Naval
In other words, in order to decide on issues and/or problems encountered for the first time, i.e NFTs, one must have the ability to generate new data, relevant to the issue at stake, then convert that data into actionable information.
Understanding that intellectual property is a crucially important instrument in the knowledge economy. I think the next generation of creators should understand the special relationship between IP, knowledge, and micro-economics.
Below is another important insight I learned from Naval:
The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn. The old model of making money is going to school for four years, getting your degree, and working as a professional for thirty years. But things change fast now. Now, you have to come up to speed on a new profession within nine months, and it’s obsolete four years later. But within those three productive years, you can get very wealthy.
Is knowledge a scarce economic good?
This is perhaps the most difficult idea to get your head around. It was for me. I think the ability depends on human beings, working either together or individuals. According to Naval:
You can go on the internet, and you can find your audience. And you can build a business, and create a product, and build wealth, and make people happy just uniquely expressing yourself through the internet. The internet enables any niche interest, as long as you’re the best person at it to scale out. And the great news is because every human is different, everyone is the best at something— being themselves.
Intuitively, we may assume that the conversion of knowledge as an inherently public good into a kind of private good could well require some specific form of market structure, which would complement the said conversion.
I think web3 technology solves this.
A new wave of digital assets, known as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), are opening up amazing opportunities for Africa. The use cases for NFTs have been developed by many different blockchain projects—some with a direct focus on gaming and some without. But the rise in popularity of these digital assets is undeniable, as they have already started to transform how we interact with each other online. As more companies get involved in developing NFTs, this will only continue to grow in scope and influence.
In essence, Web3 is an open-source movement that aims to decentralize the internet. Web3 is a new way to build applications and store data. It's also a new way to monetize content — and it's happening now.
A shift in business and personal data management is upon us:
Data is the new oil.
Data is a new asset class.
Data is the new currency.
Data is a new source of value.
Data is a new driver of innovation, power, and growth in Africa. It’s time to take control of your data and start seeing what it can do for you!
We can't afford to wait for governments or corporations to solve these problems for us – we need to take control and create sustainable solutions ourselves. Blockchain technology provides us with a powerful toolkit that can allow us all to be part of this change.
IP protects forms of knowledge that carry beneficial effects on social, ethical and economic progress if supplied as private goods under the rules of the new digital economy.
Without intellectual property, a large part of knowledge and associated goodwill - the dominating factor of wealth - is simply not an economic good.
Introducing NFT Licenses
Intellectual Property NFTs represent rights to intellectual property, and NFT marketplaces facilitate the buying/selling of these patents or rights.
Background of NFT Licenses:
The Licenses sets forth the rights that owners of such NFTs obtain with respect to any artwork, media, or other content that is specifically linked to their NFTs. a16z
Deployment of NFT Licenses:
It is envisioned that the Licenses may be tailored by creators of NFT projects to suit their specified needs. The Licenses could then be made available for review at a specific URL or other repository where such NFTs are made available for purchase. Further, the metadata and description for the underlying NFTs could include a link to such party’s deployed URL where the particular license can be accessed for review prior to initial or secondary purchase. Much like the underlying media for the NFT, the actual terms of the license should be stored using a permanent decentralized storage solution to ensure the terms of such license will always be accessible by NFT owners in the future. - a16z
Use-case of the CC0 Framework to NFT Media:
CC0 is essentially dedicating all rights under copyright and neighboring rights in the NFT Media to the public domain. Thus, the CC0 instance does not include the following:
Personal or commercial use restrictions
Termination of license upon sale or transfer of NFT
Termination of license for violation of content standards or other breaches
Creators considering the CC0 agreement should read the statements by the Creative Commons about the potential that the CC0 agreement might not be enforceable in some countries. The adoption of the CC0 agreement cannot be reversed.
By acquiring lawful ownership to a non-fungible token (“NFT”) associated with the NFT project made available under this NFT License (“Project NFT”) created by the owner or entity that has created this Project NFT (“Creator” or “we” or “our”) or by using, distributing, reproducing, displaying, performing, modifying, or creating derivative works of any associated artwork, images, video, content or other works of authorship linked to a specific Project NFT which was developed by Creator (the “NFT Media”), you agree to these NFT License Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”). When you lawfully own a Project NFT, you own all personal property rights to the NFT underlying the Project NFT (e.g., the right to freely sell, transfer, or otherwise dispose of that Project NFT).
Examples:
It’s no coincidence that the rise of token economies coincides with a shift in how value is created, and it’s not just happening in entertainment. We are seeing this trend across sectors as more people become creators in their own right. By democratizing access to resources and giving fans the power to vote directly on outcomes they want to see, token economies empower fans like never before—allowing them to participate in their fandom like never before.
As we’ve discussed here today, there are many different options available—but none of them are perfect. That said, we firmly believe that NFTs offer some exciting solutions that can help creators capture value from their work by giving them control over how they distribute it while also making sure fans don’t miss out on getting access if they want it badly enough!
We are creating a new paradigm for how investors, creators, entrepreneurs, and curious individuals leverage their new and existing IP to make positive, long-term economic decisions. It is our mission to help them build wealth in emerging digital assets by providing them with all the information they need from one place.
If you’d like to discover more ways to monetize your digital content using technology like Web3 and NFTs, I’m holding a free workshop “The Monetization Strategy for Creators” this Friday at 19:00pm SAST.
Register to join here (spots are limited).
In the workshop, I’ll reveal how you can monetize your digital content at a higher level while working less.
There will also be a Q&A time at the end where you can ask me any of your burning questions about digital assets.
It’s going to be a great time, and I hope you’ll join me.
Let’s ALL make it!
Wisani
P.S Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:
Join my free Monetization Strategy for Creators workshop here.
Pre-order Monetizing Attention.
Prepare yourself and your business for Web3, NFTs and Blockchain with 1:1 coaching here.
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