DE102022113715A1 - Method and device for renting a digital work of art - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method (20) for renting a digital work of art (11) with the following features: An NFT (15) referring to the work of art (11) is transferred from its owner (12) to the organizer (13) (21 ), whereby a return deadline (22) is set for this; and after the return period (22) has expired, the NFT (15) is automatically transferred (23) from the organizer (13) back to the owner (12). The invention also provides a corresponding device, a corresponding computer program (16) and a corresponding storage medium ready.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for renting a digital work of art. The present invention also relates to a corresponding device, a corresponding computer program and a corresponding storage medium.

In cryptography, a non-fungible token (NFT) is any unique, indivisible and verifiable token that represents a digital or physical object in a blockchain. According to the state of the art, NFTs are used in particular to represent virtual goods.

As proof of certain rights to a certain asset, the NFT itself can be collected and traded. Relevant trading platforms, for example for digital art, are well known to those skilled in the art. As a rule, the trading platform on which a specific work of art is offered assigns it to the NFT that refers to it and attaches certain contractually guaranteed ownership or usage rights to the referenced work to its ownership.

WO2020092900A2 discloses an electronic trading platform that supports a token-based lending system. In this way, lenders can mint tokens into virtual works of art, which can be managed in a distributed transaction database and transferred directly between platform participants. Borrowing and ownership of the work are implemented in the form of a smart contract.

US20220040557A1 and US20210256070A1 describe a process for writing and managing legally enforceable smart contracts over their entire life cycle, which aims to build a bridge to the traditional arbitration and court system. The contracts anchored in a blockchain can regulate, in particular, the loan of digital works of art.

EP3869444A1 proposes the issuance of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, subject to smart contracts implemented as Ethereum distributed applications (dApps). The NFTs can be used in particular to manage the provenance, rental and loan of digital works of art, for example between museums.

WO2020209056A1 concerns a private blockchain for managing a wide variety of legal transactions with digital and physical works of art.

The invention provides a method for renting digital works of art, a corresponding device, a corresponding computer program and a corresponding machine-readable storage medium according to the independent claims.

One advantage of this solution is the creation of a platform for renting digital works of art that are linked to a title of ownership in the form of an NFT.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims. For example, the expiry of the usage rights after a given period of time could be regulated in a smart contract, which implements the return of the NFT after the deadline has expired.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing and is described in more detail below.

The only figure shows a method according to the invention.

The figure schematically illustrates the approach according to the invention using the application of an evening party with friends. In advance of this event (14), the art-loving host (13) concludes an intelligent contract (16) with a gallery, an art collector or other owner (12) of a digital work of art (11). The one negotiated between the parties (12, 13), for example on a relevant internet platform

Contract (16) regulates the temporary transfer of certain rights to the work (11), in particular the right to display it, from the owner (12) to the organizer (13). The ownership of these rights is contractually linked to the ownership of an NFT (15) that refers to the work of art, which is therefore transferred (21) from the owner (12) to the organizer (13) in execution of the contract (16).

In exercising her right acquired under the contract (16), the host (13) displays the work of art (11) in a digital picture frame for the duration of the evening event (14). After the corresponding return period (22), which may be specified in the contract (16) in minutes, hours or days, has elapsed, this automatically causes the NFT (15) to be transferred back (23) from the host (13). to the owner (12) of the work of art (11). This means that the contractually granted right to display what the picture frame set up for digital rights management (DRM) recognizes and switches off its display expires.

In one embodiment, the NFT (15) is an Ethereum token in a contract (16) according to EIP-721, which may be implemented, for example, in the Solidity programming language. In this case, the contract (16), translated into Ethereum bytecode and executed on a virtual machine, determines, in addition to the contractual work of art (11), the contracting parties (12, 13) and the return period (22), the payment of an appropriate “rent” (not shown). ) in Ether, which he transfers from the host's wallet (13) to that of the owner (12) at the appropriate time. A decentralized application (DApp) in the Ethereum blockchain could provide the said platform for brokering and processing the contract (16).

QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of documents listed by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• WO 2020092900 A2 [0004]
• US 20220040557 A1 [0005]
• US 20210256070 A1 [0005]
• EP 3869444 A1 [0006]
• WO 2020209056 A1 [0007]

Claims (10)

Method (20) for renting a digital work of art (11) from an owner (12) to an organizer (13) of an event (14), characterized by the following features: - an NFT (15) referring to the work of art (11) is used by it The owner (12) is transferred (21) to the organizer (13), whereby a return deadline (22) is set for the latter, and - after the return period (22) has expired, the NFT (15) is automatically returned from the organizer (13) to the owner (12) transferred (23). Procedure (20) according to Claim 1 , characterized by the following features: - the return period (22) is regulated in a smart contract (16) and - the transfer (21, 23) of the NFT (15) is carried out by the contract (16). Procedure (20) according to Claim 2 , characterized by the following features: - the contract (16) also regulates a rent to be paid by the organizer (13) to the owner (12) and - the rent is also paid through the contract (16). Procedure (20) according to Claim 3 , characterized by the following features: - the NFT (15) and the contract (16) are stored in a common blockchain and - the work of art (11) is stored outside the blockchain. Procedure (20) according to Claim 4 , characterized by the following features: - the rent is paid in a cryptocurrency and - the cryptocurrency is based on the blockchain. Procedure (20) according to Claim 5 , characterized by the following features: - the blockchain is Ethereum and - the cryptocurrency is Ether. Method (20) according to one of Claims 1 until 6 , characterized by at least one of the following features: - the return period (22) is determined in minutes, - the return period (22) is determined in hours or - the return period (22) is determined in days. Device for carrying out a method (20) according to one of Claims 1 until 7 . Computer program (16), which is set up to carry out all steps of a method (20) according to one of the Claims 1 until 7 to carry out. Machine-readable storage medium with a computer program stored on it Claim 9 .

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