NFT holders can earn millions through IP rights, says Apocalyptic Apes founder

While the most common way to earn money in the nonfungible token (NFT) space is by flipping the tokens for profit, there are other opportunities to earn money with NFTs as the market continues to develop. 

In a Cointelegraph interview, Bill Starkov, the founder of Apocalyptic Apes and a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) member, talked about how NFT holders can license the intellectual property (IP) rights of the tokens.

Citing BAYC as an example, Starkov noted that “holders can generate thousands of dollars by licensing out their apes for commercial use.” He explained that this can also happen with other projects if the NFT collection becomes more popular.

Apart from this, Starkov strongly believes that, eventually, people’s profile pictures will become celebrities themselves by using NFTs. He noted :

“In the future, NFT holders will be earning hundreds of millions of dollars through IP rights, because PFPs in the future will become your new Jay Leno, they'll become your new Jimmy Kimmel, your new Oprah.”

However, for this to happen, the Apocalyptic Apes founder said that people need to first hold their NFTs and allow for the project behind it to develop. The BAYC member also thinks that “turning your PFP into a character is an opportunity to bring it to life.”

Related: ‘Wave of litigation’ to hit NFT space as copyright issues abound

There's a lot of confusion surrounding copyrights, intellectual property and the ownership of NFTs. Back in January, a project called Spice DAO was ridiculed on the internet for tweeting about plans to make an animated series of the book Dune, after purchasing an NFT of a rare copy of the novel. Many reacted to the tweet, noting that buying the NFT does not mean that they will own the copyright to the actual book as the law dictates that the copyright will stay with the creators of the original work. 

In May, American actor Seth Green’s BAYC NFT was stolen and sold to someone else. As the BAYC is scheduled to be used in a television show, concerns about who owns the commercial usage rights arose. A law professor even noted that Green can be sued as buyers are protected legally if they unknowingly buy a stolen item, suggesting that the IP goes to the new owner. Eventually, Green bought back the NFT.