The UK Court of Appeal has for the first time judged a case involving NFTs.

The case involved a dispute between UK-based digital art collector Amir Soleymani and trading platform Nifty Gateway over a $650,000 Beeple NFT.

Soleymani, who won the case, alleged that Nifty Gatweway sought to avoid English consumer laws and the jurisdiction of the English Courts by imposing a New York-based arbitration.

Russells, the law firm which represented the NFT collector, said that trading platform treated Soleymani as profession as opposed to a consumer and thereby blocked Soleymani's protection under English consumer laws.

Russells said that the “ground-breaking” judgement in favour of Soleymani impacts every British internet user purchasing goods online under UK consumer laws. The firm said consumers will now be protected from automatic foreign arbitration when they want to dispute an online transaction.

Commenting on the judgement, Amir Soleymani said: "Until now, the sale of digital art published as NFTs has been operating as if based in international waters - with any selling platform accused of foul play forcing arbitration in whichever jurisdiction had the weakest consumer rights laws and best suited their case. I hope this judgment gives consumers protection against such gerrymandering."

Soleymani's legal counsel said: "The case Mr Soleymani is seeking to make has broad implications for all consumers using the internet in general in this jurisdiction. In a UK court, consumer disputes should be considered and ruled upon in public, instead of by a foreign tribunal that is not obliged to honour the protections our government affords each of us under UK law."

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