Juventus, the case of fake NFTs

This is an important decision because confirmation of some principlesrelating to the nature of NFTs, which until now were only guesses, even if well supported by the interpretation of the regulations in force.

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The old law applied to new technologies

Riccardo Traina Chiarini, lawyer specializing in intellectual property law and new technologies counsel of Trevisan & Cuonzo, the firm that assisted Juventus in the procedure, explains that “the creation of nft – which the court qualifies as “goods intended for commercial sale” – necessity of specific authorization from the trademark ownerof which it therefore constitutes an infringement in its own right and distinct from the infringement, also ascertained by the Roman judge, of the use of the trademark in digital images”. We are therefore faced with one double violationthe first concerns the very creation of the Juventus nft, therefore of the digital certificate, while the second concerns the unlawful use of the team’s trademark in the work connected to the certificate.

But this episode shows us another side, perhaps less known, of Italian justice. In the case of the protection of intellectual property, in fact, the Italian courts they are very prepared and efficient and demonstrate that going to court can be the winning solution in these cases, preferable to out-of-court solutions.

“Juventus – explains Traina Chiani – acted quickly as soon as it became aware of the violation, which is all the more essential in a case like this where there is a need to avoid – or at least limit – the risk that NFTs will be sold from the creator who has no right to them and become available on the secondary market, where they are much more difficult to block”.

This choice protects both the owner of the right, Juventus in this case, and the unsuspecting buyer who would end up having purchased a counterfeit nft, therefore devoid of real apparent value. In these cases, the platforms that host the NFTs for sale still play a fundamental role. Since, in fact, the contents to which the nfts are linked are often not found in the blockchainbut on servers available to the same platforms, it will be easy for them to block and remove illegitimate content.

If, therefore, this episode proves that the old rules apply and work perfectly even with the most innovative technologies, the European Union has already launched some new rules, soon to come into force, to regulate the crypto phenomenon and NFT collections, the Market in Crypto-assets Regulation (Mica), and the responsibility of platforms in cases where they host illegal content, the Digital services act.