CCTV.com calls for orders for Bored Ape? When Bored Ape comes to China's "parallel universe"

Recently, I believe many people have seen the following screenshot. The official Weibo account of CCTV.com participated in the topic of "Meeting You is My Ape" and forwarded the official "Bored Ape" promotional video of Phoenix Weekly.

CCTV.com actually gave an order to "Bored Ape"?

In fact, the Bored Ape series endorsed by CCTV.com and Phoenix Weekly this time is not the original BAYC NFT, but the Chinese version of BATC digital collection.

B ATC : Sales amount is approximately RMB 5.65 million

The BATC series of digital collections are issued by the Chinese digital collection platform "No. 1 Collection". It is a secondary creation project based on the purchased copyright of "BAYC #5513 Bored Ape". Based on the tonality of BAYC "boredom", the head of Bored Ape is extended to create a full-body image and add more Chinese style elements to the design.

According to the official introduction, this is a story about #5513 Bored Ape and his "Chinese Parallel Universe" - "The Number One Collection has given #5513 Bored Ape a new world and a new worldview. In the new story line, the Number One Collection leads #5513 Bored Ape and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) to China." In the end, the Chinese version of the Bored Apes formed the Bored Ape Toho Club (BATC).

Public information shows that the company behind it, No.1 Collection, is a blockchain-based digital collection sales platform, which is affiliated to No.1 Idol (Beijing) Digital Technology Co., Ltd. Its main services include the development, operation and promotion of digital collections and virtual digital people.

NFTGO data shows that #5513 Bored Ape was sold for 139 ETH (more than $250,000, or about 1.7 million yuan, based on the price of ETH at the time) on June 2. The buyer was the official wallet address of the top collector named "Toho". The top collector announced the purchase on June 6 and said that he would create a second work for the Bored Ape. The BATC series was open for reservations on July 29, and the sales method was a lottery. It was open for purchase on August 1.

Each BATC monkey consists of 11 parts and more than 400 different parts, which are randomly generated by programming, totaling 9999 copies. The selling price is 588 yuan per copy. Although the price of the "Chinese version of the Bored Ape" NFT series is dozens of times higher than that of the Greenland Group's sale in June, it has attracted higher popularity because of the official media platforms such as CCTV.com. Official statistics show that as of the end of the event, a total of 267,968 people have made appointments for the lottery. In the end, excluding the value of the 388 Bored Apes reserved by the official, that is, the final sales amount of BATC is about 5.65 million yuan.

So far, BATC seems to be a good business.

In addition, the No. 1 Collection Platform announced that the BATC series of digital collections can be circulated together, and its App also supports the transfer function. At present, according to information from some communities and the X Meta Collection Exchange Platform, the price of a BATC in the secondary market has risen to thousands of yuan.

It is worth mentioning that BATC Club also imitated BAYC to operate the DAO community, where community members can enjoy: priority purchase rights for the later sale of Bored Ape advanced materials, blind box airdrops, advanced or upgraded material airdrops and other membership benefits; digital ID cards for entering the TOHO World Bored Ape district; and sharing of the copyright of the #5513 Bored Ape itself.

You can also become the number one business partner, share industry business opportunities and cross-border brand cooperation with members holding BATC, and have the "right to use secondary creation".

Generally speaking, BAYC has already granted Bored Ape NFT holders full commercial rights to use, copy and display the purchased collectibles, and buyers can also use it to create creative derivative works. In other words, each buyer can use their Bored Ape as their project or product brand and sell it independently.

But do secondary works have the right of "secondary creation"? Are there any legal risks in this "unlimited nesting doll" operation?

According to my country's Intellectual Property Protection Law, secondary creations have copyright, that is, they have the copyright to the new works formed after rewriting and adaptation. In addition, Bored Ape belongs to CC0 (meaning "No Rights Reserved", i.e., Creative Commons Zero Copyright) NFT. The CC0 model allows users to continuously derive content and generate a flywheel effect to promote the dissemination and value growth of original works.

Related reading: "How CC0, low fidelity, and on-chain metadata unlock the composability potential of NFTs"

Bored Ape in China

Top Collector is not the first company in China to use the Bored Ape for commercial purposes. According to incomplete statistics from Chain Catcher, China Li Ning, Greenland Group, and Beurer have also used the Bored Ape they purchased for commercial marketing.

On April 23, China Li-Ning launched the "China Li-Ning Bored Ape Fashion Sports Club" series of clothing based on its Bored Ape "BAYC #4102" and held an offline flash event; in June, Greenland Group announced that it would form a "Fortune and Good Luck" combination with its "BAYC #8302" and three animal NFTs in Aworld, and made secondary creations based on BAYC #8302. On June 20, it released the Greenland Group 30th Anniversary Edition Digital Collection Series; Belysun, the first stock in health smart hardware, announced the purchase of BAYC #1365, which means going to bed early every day for 365 days a year, and launched the "Bored Ape Health Club" and its slogan: "Why not go to bed early if you are bored?"

Why is BAYC Bored Ape frequently used by domestic commercial companies for marketing activities?

Today, BAYC has surpassed CryptoPunks to become the most well-known IP in the industry, and its floor price was once more than twice that of CryptoPunks. In the 15 months since its launch, BAYC has broken through the circle worldwide, with many celebrities such as NBA player LaMelo Ball, pop stars Justin Bieber, Jay Chou, and many other celebrities following it, as well as companies such as Adidas, Rolling Stone Magazine, and Universal Music Group cooperating with it.

In addition, the open copyright principle of Bored Ape also completely breaks the exclusive licensing derivative concept of traditional IP. Any commercial organization or individual can purchase another Bored Ape NFT avatar and conduct their own commercial development, eliminating the complicated processes such as business negotiations and providing a more flexible form.

On the other hand, since BAYC is an overseas IP born in the field of NFT, there is a huge gray area in the traditional domestic environment. The copyright openness and commercial use rights that Boring Ape claims to belong entirely to the buyer are not legally defined, at least in China.

With the continuous improvement of NFT user base and the traffic effect, it is natural for domestic commercial companies to actively embrace NFT artworks represented by Bored Ape. It is foreseeable that in the future, more Chinese companies seeking the young user market will purchase "Bored Ape" to build their brand image or conduct secondary derivative creations.