Smart Contract for Digital Art Ownership and Copyright

Objective:

To develop a blockchain-based system that verifies and manages digital art ownership, provenance, and copyright using smart contracts, ensuring authenticity, royalties, and protection of intellectual property.

Key Features:

Proof of Ownership – Each digital artwork is tokenized and assigned to its rightful owner.

Immutable Copyright Record – Copyright info is permanently stored on-chain.

NFT Tokenization – Artworks are represented as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Automatic Royalties – Creators receive royalties on every resale via smart contracts.

Transfer of Rights – Ownership and usage rights can be transferred securely.

Global Accessibility – Artists can reach and sell to a worldwide audience.

Timestamping – Verifies when and by whom the art was first created/uploaded.

Technologies Used:

Blockchain Platform: Ethereum, Polygon, or Flow

Smart Contract Language: Solidity (for Ethereum), Cadence (for Flow)

NFT Standard: ERC-721 / ERC-1155

Frontend: React.js / Vue.js for artist and buyer interface

Storage: IPFS or Arweave for artwork files (off-chain)

Wallet Integration: MetaMask or WalletConnect

Royalty Management: Smart contracts with programmable payment splits

How It Works:

Art Upload & Tokenization:

Artist uploads digital art (image, music, etc.).

Art is stored on IPFS; metadata and rights info are minted into an NFT.

Smart Contract Deployment:

Smart contract holds ownership, copyright terms, and royalty structure.

Ownership Transfer:

When the NFT is sold or transferred, ownership is updated on-chain.

If sold on a marketplace, royalties are automatically sent to the creator.

Verification & Provenance:

Anyone can view the art's creation history, previous owners, and copyright data.

Benefits:

Authenticity – Verifiable proof that the art is original and owned.

Copyright Protection – Secures intellectual property on a global, public ledger.

Fair Revenue – Artists earn from both initial sales and secondary markets.

Transparency – Publicly visible ownership and transaction history.

Fraud Prevention – Eliminates forgeries and duplicate claims.

Global Market Access – Connects creators and buyers without middlemen.