Copyright protection: a key element in realizing the development potential of digital cultural and creative products in museums

ABSTRACT

Digital cultural and creative products, specifically Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), have emerged in recent years, attracting numerous museums to explore their potential and creating a unique cultural phenomenon. Though NFTs have sparked creativity in museums and advocated museum culture, their economic attributes have brought potential controversies and risks. This research analyzes the current status of NFTs in the digital cultural and creative field and regards copyright protection as a crucial sector that needs to be highlighted to unlock the development potential of Cultural and Creative NFTs. Leveraging the advantages of blockchain technology, we propose a solution called the Digital Cultural and Creative Alliance Chain, which establishes a copyright protection mechanism and implementation process, aiming to improve the copyright protection ecosystem in the cultural and creative field and facilitate the utilization of museum cultural resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital cultural and creative products
• copyright protection
• blockchain
• NFT
• cultural relic
• museum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ANTCHAIN represents a blockchain developed independently by China, which utilizes the country's currency system for payment and transactions and supports fiat money as the pricing and settlement currency.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [grant number: 20FKGA002].

Notes on contributors

Jingwen Zhang

Jingwen Zhang is an associate professor and deputy curator of the Nankai University Museum. She focuses on museum exhibition planning, public engagement in museums, and smart museums. She has published extensively on these topics in international journals. The recent publications include ‘The Visualization of Cultural Relics Information in the Context of Digital Humanities', ‘NK-CDS: Creative Design System for Museum Art Derivatives', and ‘A Transport Monitoring System for Cultural Relics Protection Based on Blockchain and Internet of Things'. As the project leader or the main member, she undertakes or participates in more than 20 fund projects, including the National Social Science Fund, National Science and Technology Support Fund, Tianjin Social Science Fund Project, and so on.

Yueyang Li

Yueyang Li is a graduate student at the School of History, Nankai University. She focuses on museology theory and method and has published her findings in domestic journals.