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NFT Group Buys Copy Of Dune For €2.66 Million, Believing It Gives Them Copyright
https://www.iflscience.com ^ | January 17, 2022 | James Felton

Posted on 01/17/2022 10:02:25 AM PST by Red Badger

A group of crypto enthusiasts has made an unusual purchase: a rare copy of Dune, by science fiction writer Frank Herbert, for a staggering €2.66 million ($3.04 million).

It's an odd occurrence when a book expected to fetch €25,000 goes for 100 times that amount, but the stranger part is that the buyers – a collective called SpiceDAO – appear to believe that owning an early copy of the hit sci-fi about space worms gives them the copyright, to do with what they will.

"We won the auction for €2.66M," SpiceDao wrote on Twitter. "Now our mission is to: 1. Make the book public (to the extent permitted by law). 2. Produce an original animated limited series inspired by the book and sell it to a streaming service. 3. Support derivative projects from the community."

In fact, they have bought none of these rights. They have bought a book. This is like picking up a copy of Lord of The Rings and believing you can make the official film yourself now.

We won the auction for €2.66M. Now our mission is to:

1. Make the book public (to the extent permitted by law)

2. Produce an original animated limited series inspired by the book and sell it to a streaming service

3. Support derivative projects from the community pic.twitter.com/g4QnF6YZBp

— Spice DAO (🏜,🏜) (@TheSpiceDAO) January 15, 2022 Writing on their forum before the purchase, one user outlined an idea to create a "first-of-a-kind" purchase of a culturally significant work, then "issue a collection of NFTs that are technically innovative and culturally disruptive".

In the plan, they talk about buying a book, converting it into JPGs, then burning the book, meaning that the "only copies" remaining will be the JPGs.

The poster believed that this would enhance the value of the NFT chain as the only legal copy of the book, and would be an "incredible marketing stunt" and may even present an opportunity to sell a video of them burning the book as an NFT.

In their announcement for having purchased the book (which again is not the copyright) however, their goal appeared to be to allow others to read it by making it public, before releasing an animated series of the novel, which would undoubtedly get them sued into the ground by the actual copyright holders, currently The Herbert Limited Partnership, should they so choose.

"We are in the development stage of our original animated limited series at a time when streaming wars are seeing media groups compete to spend $100+ billion on new content," they wrote in a follow-up tweet.

Who wants to tell them?


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Business/Economy; Education; History
KEYWORDS:
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IDIOTS!........................
1 posted on 01/17/2022 10:02:25 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Heading for a pretty harsh life lesson about making sure one understands the law


2 posted on 01/17/2022 10:07:23 AM PST by AndyTheBear
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To: Red Badger

I on the otherhand am cornering the market on toilet seats.

First they will squirm and then when they realize how impacted they are they’ll surrender.


3 posted on 01/17/2022 10:07:25 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: Red Badger

I’ve got the Brooklyn Bridge for sale if anyone is interested. $120 million cryptocurrency accepted.


4 posted on 01/17/2022 10:07:30 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Do we value what the Founding Fathers gave us enough to fight for it?)
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To: Red Badger

5 posted on 01/17/2022 10:07:58 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Red Badger

Frank’s family is just sitting back and watching, probably sent a heads up email to their attorney asking them if 1/3 + expenses is still the going rate for such things...


6 posted on 01/17/2022 10:08:36 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: DannyTN

Life imitates art......................

7 posted on 01/17/2022 10:09:26 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: AndyTheBear

Whoever sold that book is laughing their butt off.................In the Maldives.............


8 posted on 01/17/2022 10:10:29 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

This is not them being morons. They are pushing a crypto coin that they advertise through stunts like this and have already made over $100 million.

It’s a small investment in marketing. Create a story that everyone will share on the web, and use that to move their crypto.


9 posted on 01/17/2022 10:11:37 AM PST by Renfrew
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To: DannyTN

Brilliant! Stand back though if they decide to let loose.


10 posted on 01/17/2022 10:11:45 AM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: Abathar

I’m on their mailing list, but I’m sure they must have heard about this by now...............


11 posted on 01/17/2022 10:11:54 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger
Apparently it is not Frank Herbert's Dune, but one of Jodorowsky's working copies with illustrations and storyboards from his failed attempt at filming Dune. Ironically, someone has already scanned another copy and posted it.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/kotaku.com/crypto-losers-buy-copy-of-jodorowskys-dune-have-played-1848370368/amp has more details and a link to the scanned copy.

12 posted on 01/17/2022 10:13:54 AM PST by KarlInOhio (I stand behind Alec Baldwin. It is far too dangerous to stand in front of him.)
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To: KarlInOhio

13 posted on 01/17/2022 10:16:22 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Maybe they bought it from a related party.


14 posted on 01/17/2022 10:47:00 AM PST by Raycpa
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To: Red Badger
I have a plan...and then we...


15 posted on 01/17/2022 10:49:13 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
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To: Red Badger

They certainly bought a lot of free publicity.

But yes, youngsters these days are THAT STUPID.


16 posted on 01/17/2022 10:49:18 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: Red Badger; Gamecock; SaveFerris; PROCON; Rebelbase
Well, I just bid thirty bucks for a coffee table book about coffee tables. I better have the movie rights!


17 posted on 01/17/2022 10:51:14 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post cliclicckbait!)
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To: Red Badger

Be careful of the food carts on Dune.

You might get worms.


18 posted on 01/17/2022 10:51:20 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: KarlInOhio

All I can say is thank God that they were denied their vision of the story in a movie, that looks plain awful.


19 posted on 01/17/2022 10:52:27 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Red Badger

"This could very well be the stupidest person on the face of the Earth."

"Perhaps we should shoot him."

20 posted on 01/17/2022 10:57:50 AM PST by GreenLanternCorps (Hi! I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts! (TM) Atsk about franchise opportunities in your area.)
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