The Federal Court of Canada has declared that Krista Kim is the "sole author" of Mars House, after the artist became embroiled in a copyright dispute over the NFT-backed digital home.
Kim sought a declaration of copyright ownership for Mars House in response to a dispute over the intellectual property of the digital home between her and the visualiser who rendered the project.
In a declaration earlier this year, the court stated: "Krista Kim is the sole author of the Work and the plaintiffs are the sole owners of the copyright in the Work including the Mars House".
"The first NFT digital house in the world"
Named Mars House, the digital home designed by Kim was sold on non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace SuperRare in 2021 for 288 Ether ($512,000), a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin. Described by SuperRare as "the first NFT digital house in the world", it was sold during the height of interest in NFTs, which are based on blockchain technology and act as digital certificates of ownership, enabling digital artworks or designs to be bought, sold and collected.
Shortly after the sale, Argentine 3D modeller Mateo Sanz Pedemonte, who Kim commissioned through freelance marketplace Freelancer.com, alleged that he was "co- author of Mars House project".

Read: Artist Krista Kim sells "first NFT digital house in the world" for over $500,000

Kim had always disputed the claims,...