The UK Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Amir Soleymani's dispute against Nifty Gateway over a$650,000NFT
The decision is a ground-breaking moment for UK consumer rights
The ruling protects British internet users from the imposition of automatic foreign arbitration
Nifty Gateway was seeking to avoid English consumer laws and jurisdiction of the English Court by imposingNew York-based arbitration, blocking the collector's protection under English consumer laws
Soleymani vNifty Gateway is the first time the UK Court of Appeal has intervened in a matter involving NFTs
LONDON,Nov. 14, 2022/PRNewswire/ -- The UK Court of Appeal has judged for the first time on a case involving NFTs in a dispute between the digital art collectorAmir Soleymaniand the online trading platform Nifty Gateway regarding a$650,000 Beeple NFT.
After the Court of Appeal granted Soleymani permission to appeal inJuly 2022, the art collector received a favourable ruling on 6 October, which impacts every British internet user purchasing goods online under UK consumer laws.
The decision is ground-breaking, protecting consumers from the imposition of automatic foreign arbitration when they want to dispute an online transaction, which happened when Soleymani disputed an online auction on Nifty Gateway and theNew York-based platform began arbitral proceedings inNew York.
The trading platform, which specialises in digital art and NFTs, sought to avoid English consumer laws and the jurisdiction of the English Courts by imposing aNew York-based arbitration, treating him as professional as opposed to a consumer and thereby blocking Soleymani's protection under English consumer laws.
The disputed auction happened inMay 2021over Abundance, an NFT that Ethereum's co-founderTaylor Gerringpurchased for$1.2mon Nifty Gateway. Soleymani came third in the auction, but Nifty Gateway claimed that under its terms and conditions, he was liable to pay the total sum of his highest bid in return for the third edition of the NFT.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russells-art-collectors-successful-appeal-060000968.html