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Sol NFT Artist, John Lê, In Hot Water Over Not So Unique 1:1 Art
Solana ($SOL) NFT artist John Lê is under scrutiny from some in the Solana NFT community on Twitter for his 1:1 artwork titled “Chosen”. The reason: he is selling printed versions of this, despite previously mentioning that the piece is 1:1. While this is not illegal, it is certainly unethical. The sentiment from the community is that the first piece will lose value due to these new printings.
The “chosen piece” and what happens
The first piece, ‘Chosen’, which was referred to as ‘JL – #000’ at the time, sold for 2.8 SOL as a 1:1 on the primary market. When sold via the secondary market, it went for 500 SOL, or $45,000 at the time. It was first sold in March this year.
Now, @SOLMills_ on Twitter wrote a thread upon his discovery that Lê was selling the play as physical prints on a platform called InPrint. He considered the legal and ethical complications when he wrote this.
In summary, John Lê retained the rights and IP of the original image. No IP was assigned to the buyer, so officially he has the legal right to make copies in different formats, but would not have the right to make more NFTs of the exact image. Mills said they expected it would “come down to a legal definition of ‘unique,’ whether there was false advertising in the original sale and whether buyers had suffered losses as a result of that false advertising.”
The downside to making new versions is that the original 1:1 piece will likely decrease in value. This will potentially put customers off buying work from the artist in the future.
Mills mentioned that it will be up to the free market to decide whether John’s behavior is unethical.
About John Lê
John Lê is an NFT artist with a focus on the Solana room. Alongside his own work, he is an artist for other collections. Namely ‘The First Collection’, ‘RAH-D’ and ‘LeDAO’. He is well loved in the Solana NFT space, with 22,000 followers on Twitter. Among these followers is Markus Magnusson, the artist of Invisible Friends. It was one of the most hyped Ethereum NFTs at launch.
Upon purchasing his work, many buyers have raved about it. One user, @peters8620 said: “ It has been a goal of mine to own @notjohnlestudio (Art). Thanks for what you do!” Another, @0xKirk, added: “Extremely grateful to finally have a John Lê piece. Beautiful piece John.”
