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Free Holdings has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District Court of New York against artist Kevin McCoy and auction house Sotheby's over the $1.47 million sale of an NFT painting called Quantum, ArtNews reports.
Quantum, created by McCoy in collaboration with programmer Anil Dash on May 5, 2014, is believed to be the world's first non-interchangeable token. On June 10, 2021, the work was sold by the artist at Sotheby's Natively Digital auction house for $1.47 million. However, Free Holdings believes that the sale was illegal, as it is the company that officially owns the original version of Quantum, not McCoy.
As the holding states, the artist used blockchain-based software NameCoin to create the piece of art. According to NameCoin rules, owners of coins or tokens minted with the software must reassert ownership each 250 days. Otherwise, they automatically become the property of NameCoin, and anyone can purchase them.
The suit says that after the author allowed ownership to expire, the holdings purchased the unclaimed NFT and tried to contact the artist for months before Sotheby's auctioned them. The company accuses Sotheby's and Kevin McCoy of misrepresenting the auction: McCoy submitted a copy of the original Quantum, based on the Ethereum blockchain, for sale. "Although the token's metadata speaks for itself, theauction house and the artist attempted to create the illusion that this particular item was the very first NFT," the complaint says.
source: artnews.com
Quantum, created by McCoy in collaboration with programmer Anil Dash on May 5, 2014, is believed to be the world's first non-interchangeable token. On June 10, 2021, the work was sold by the artist at Sotheby's Natively Digital auction house for $1.47 million. However, Free Holdings believes that the sale was illegal, as it is the company that officially owns the original version of Quantum, not McCoy.
As the holding states, the artist used blockchain-based software NameCoin to create the piece of art. According to NameCoin rules, owners of coins or tokens minted with the software must reassert ownership each 250 days. Otherwise, they automatically become the property of NameCoin, and anyone can purchase them.
The suit says that after the author allowed ownership to expire, the holdings purchased the unclaimed NFT and tried to contact the artist for months before Sotheby's auctioned them. The company accuses Sotheby's and Kevin McCoy of misrepresenting the auction: McCoy submitted a copy of the original Quantum, based on the Ethereum blockchain, for sale. "Although the token's metadata speaks for itself, theauction house and the artist attempted to create the illusion that this particular item was the very first NFT," the complaint says.
source: artnews.com
