When you buy an NFT, a unique digital token on a blockchain that proves ownership of a specific asset. Also known as non-fungible token, it’s often marketed as owning a piece of digital art, music, or collectible—but that’s not always true. Most NFTs don’t transfer copyright, licensing, or usage rights. You own the token, not the content it points to. This misunderstanding leads to lawsuits, scams, and broken expectations.
That’s why NFT intellectual property, the legal rights tied to the digital content linked to an NFT, including copyright, trademark, and distribution control matters more than the NFT itself. If the artist didn’t explicitly grant you rights in the smart contract or terms of sale, you can’t print the image on a T-shirt, use it in a video, or sell copies. Even if the NFT shows up on OpenSea or Blur, the law doesn’t care about the marketplace—it cares about what was written in the fine print. And most of the time, that fine print says nothing.
NFT ownership, the blockchain-based proof of possession of a specific token, not the underlying digital file is like owning a numbered print of a Picasso. You have the print, but not the original painting, not the right to reproduce it, and not the right to stop others from taking photos of it. The same applies to NFTs. The file is often stored on a server someone else controls. If that server goes down, your NFT might point to a blank page. No one is legally required to keep it alive.
Some projects, like Bored Ape Yacht Club, do grant commercial rights. Others, like CryptoPunks, leave it vague. A few even sue people for using their NFTs in ads. That’s why digital asset law, the emerging legal framework governing ownership, use, and transfer of blockchain-based assets is still a mess. Courts haven’t settled most of these cases. Regulators are still figuring out if NFTs are securities, collectibles, or something else entirely. And in places like Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, or Algeria, where crypto is tightly controlled, your NFT rights might vanish overnight if the government decides to ban it.
You can’t rely on the hype. You can’t trust the influencer. You can’t assume the NFT marketplace has your back. The only thing that matters is the contract—written in code or words—that came with your purchase. And most of them? They’re written by lawyers who don’t care if you understand them.
Below, you’ll find real cases where people lost money because they thought owning an NFT meant owning the art. You’ll see how airdrops disappeared without legal recourse, how projects vanished after collecting funds, and how some NFTs are now worthless because their legal foundation was never built. This isn’t theory. These are the outcomes people are living through right now. Know what you’re buying before you click ‘Confirm’.
Buying an NFT doesn't mean you own the artwork. Learn what rights you actually get, how commercial use works, and why reading the terms is the only way to avoid legal trouble.
