ABA Litigation: Jurisdictional and other legal considerations in the booming NFT market. ” Many purists think decentralization is the most important promise of cryptocurrency, but to grow in popularity, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) need to guarantee rights to artists. NFTs are non-interchangeable units of data, stored on a blockchain, that can be sold and traded.
NFTs can represent real-world items, such as artwork. Currently, some artists are hesitant to enter the NFT space fully because they lack certainty as to how legal rights will be enforced in a decentralized space. For example, if there is a dispute, how would one handle it?
When people hear only about the scams or “getting rugged,” they will be wary of entering into the NFT market. (“Getting rugged” is a widely used term for investing in an NFT project after the artists or managers of the project promise the moon but then “pull the rug out from under you” by taking your money and never developing the project). Courts have not yet determined how to treat NFTs. Will artists be able to enforce copyright? What if someone claims that stealing an image is free use but barely changed the original artwork?
Because an NFT is a combination of an image and a token, should we treat them the same or differently? Some people in the NFT community believe there should be some regulation, while others say there should be none, given that NFTs are supposed to be completely decentralized. There may be answers in traditional art law, but artists (and art law attorneys who counsel them) cannot be certain how courts will handle disputes involving NFT art law.
Many in the NFT community feel this uncertainty is a non-issue. For them, it is more about the thrill of a sale and being on the cutting edge of new technology and art. Yet other artists are waiting for certainty before they fully commit to NFTs…”
When Men Don’t Listen: 10 Loving Ways to Get His Attention
Urban bookselling in the US
In Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot looks at Why Aren't City Dwellers Buying Books ? as many of the biggest book markets in the US have lagged behind midsize markets in terms of growth in book-sales.
Various factors play a part in this; still, interesting to see.
Sharjah Booksellers Conference
At Scroll.in Venkatesh M Swamy reports on the recent Sharjah Booksellers Conference, in Notes from a conference: What booksellers talk about when they talk about selling books.
Svetlana Alexievich Q & A
At the Literary Hub José Vergara has a lengthy Q & A with the Belarusian Nobel laureate, in On the Dangers of Greatness: A Conversation with Svetlana Alexievich.
Executive Excess
Institute for Policy Studies – The CEOs at America’s largest low-wage employers are grabbing huge raises while workers and consumers struggle with rising costs: “Throughout the pandemic, essential workers have labored heroically. But while workers risked their lives, bosses have reaped the rewards. In our last report, we found that more than half of our nation’s 100 largest low-wage employers changed their own rules to ensure huge payouts for CEOs in 2020 — while workers lost wages, jobs, and even their lives.
On average, the CEOs at these rule-rigging firms pocketed 29 percent raises while their median worker pay fell by 2 percent This 28th edition of Executive Excess extends the story. We found that last year, with the economy in recovery mode, corporate leaders shifted to new CEO pay-inflating tactics. Many low-wage corporations spent record sums on stock buybacks. Others high-handedly used the COVID-19 crisis as a cover for jacking up prices to consumers.
Both maneuvers made it easier for CEOs to score massive bonuses. Wages at many of these companies, meanwhile, failed to keep up with inflation — and some actually declined. Worst of all, taxpayers are directly subsidizing these outrages through federal contracts. This executive excess has Americans across the political spectrum fed up. But as we’ll explore, there are solutions…”
Will “Living With Covid”™ Even Be Possible? (Because What About the Brain Fog?)
A review of what we know of Long Covid, with some lateral thinking.
