The latest wave of cryptomania has brought us yet another acronym after ICOs (initial coin offerings) – NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Touted as a means to render readily replicable digital art (and possibly other objects) rare and scarce, NFT-mania reached its apogee with the auction of Beeple’s Everydays: the First 5,000 Days for US$69m. But did the buyer actually acquire, through the NFT, any art? What is art abstracted from the medium upon which it is embedded and dissociated from its copyright?

About the Speaker:

Kelvin F.K. Low is Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. His research interest spans the field of private law but with a particular interest in property, broadly defined. He has published internationally with leading journals such as the American Journal of Comparative Law, the International & Comparative Law Quarterly, Legal Studies, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, the Law Quarterly Review, the Melbourne University Law Review, and the Modern Law Review. He is a co-author of the 2nd and 3rd editions of The Law of Personal Property (together with Michael Bridge, Louise Gullifer, and Gerard McMeel) and the 3rd and 4th editions of Tan Sook Yee’s Principles of Singapore Land Law (together with Tang Hang Wu). His works have been cited by the courts in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore as well as law commissions and law reform bodies in Australia, England and Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Singapore.

The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1.5 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points.