First Software Copyright Asset Released on Ethereum

Earlier this week, Irresident Limited and Privé Trust have deployed the first software copyright asset on the Ethereum network. The Privé token represents ownership of the software copyright or, as the team puts it, “fractional undivided interest in the copyright of the Privé software platform.”

“Writers often sell their copyright to a publisher well before a book is finished. This is not a new concept. What is new, however, is that smart contracts have enabled us to have tens of thousands of ‘publishers’,” explains Damir Petkovic, Irresident CEO.

Privé token relies not only on its smart contract code but also on the legal prose embedded within that code. The legal prose in the Privé token is the Joint Copyright Ownership Agreement that defines Privé copyright owners’ mutual rights and obligations in the “legacy” world which can be retrieved by invoking the token’s ‘copyrightAgreement’ function.

In order to gain legal title to their share of Privé copyright, the token holder must accept the agreement by invoking the ‘acceptAgreement’ function, effectively signing the transaction with their private key as the agreement must be accepted wholly and unequivocally. A Privé wallet dApp is available for users’ convenience at the Irresident website: https://www.irresident.io/pax/

“A token on the Ethereum network can be used to represent anything. It is the token’s underlying code and its associated legal prose that define the token’s legal nature. Privately issued tokens typically map to legal instruments; Privé’s copyright ownership certificate is one such instrument. As intellectual property is not a security, everyone is eligible to purchase copyright tokens,” affirms Luka Arvaj, the trustee of Privé Trust and Irresident’s Chief Legal Officer.

Privé is a fintech/regtech platform for private credit that is being developed by Irresident Limited. The platform, which will offer free access to its end users, presents a range of financial innovations; these include near-real-time loan (collateral) performance analysis and disintermediated, structured credit instruments (e.g., dCDO or dCLO), to name two of the most important.