ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Karate Combat, the world’s premier full-contact striking league, announced today that it will become the first professional sports league to embrace new, compliant Web3 IP licensing models, granting the community NFT and video game commercialization rights. To quickly attract the absolute best partners and entrepreneurs globally, the league offers its IP in certain categories in return for an extremely attractive, low, fixed revenue share to the league’s athletes and community.
For an initial period of 3 years, Karate Combat licensees will be granted the right to commercialize the league’s IP in the categories of NFTs and video games. Pending community feedback, the league intends to permanently expand and expand the program across most categories.
Web3 licensing models are still in an early phase of experimentation and iteration. Projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club have given NFT holders the right to commercialize their owned artwork, and holders have rushed to license the images for categories from TV shows to rolling papers. Other projects, such as Substantive DAO and Moonbirds, have gone the further step of using a Creative Commons, No Rights Reserved License, or “CC0” license, placing the artwork in the public domain and allowing anyone to use the IP. Bored Ape Yacht Club and Substantive DAO NFTs have both been featured in previous Karate Combat digital 3D backgrounds rendered in Epic Game’s Unreal Engine.
The league is developing and testing these new licensing models to fit the unique requirements of a community-run professional sports league. The league’s IP is deeply connected to athletes, and the league’s community is its greatest asset. Similar to a CC0 license, anyone who meets the criteria to be finalized by the DAO will be able to commercialize the Karate Combat IP in the first two pre-approved categories.
Creators must pay a commission to Karate Combat to use the IP commercially, but at a rate deliberately set low to make the opportunity as inclusive as possible and encourage young creators to participate. Creators can keep 80% of the revenue they generate from the Karate Combat IP, with the other 20% split equally between Karate Combat fighters and the Karate Combat community.
Karate Combat recently announced that it will be the first professional sports league to transition to a DAO, governed by the $KARATE token. In two months, the league will begin giving away half of its tokens in the “biggest giveaway in the history of the sport.” Unlike sports fan tokens issued to date, $KARATE token holders have real control rights over league operations. Today’s announcement is an additional step in the league’s transition to community control. The final IP license will be released ahead of the DAO’s launch in December 2022, and the first projects are expected to launch in Q1 2023.
“The Web3 industry has embraced new IP licensing models that harness the creative forces of permission-free innovation and community to accelerate growth,” said Robert Bryan, founder of Karate Combat. “Today, Karate Combat announced that it is granting the community the right to use its IP in the NFTs and video game categories for a low fixed royalty to the league’s fighters and community.”
Builders interested in the league’s new IP license should visit the KC Universe channel in the Karate Combats discord at
Karate Combat fans can read the league’s draft whitepaper and join the app and airdrop waiting list at karate.com/airdrop. The league’s next event, “Karate Combat 36,” will take place on October 29, 2022, live from the Backlot of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Tickets are on sale now at www.karate.com/tickets.
About Karate Combat
Karate Combat is the world’s premier striking league and the first sports league structured as a DAO. The league is also the only global leader to blend live-action sports with immersive CGI environments powered by Epic Games’ Unreal game engine. World champions and Olympic medalists from around the world compete in eight different weight divisions in the pursuit of Karate Combat World Championship belts and will participate in token-based governance. Karate Combat is owned by the Sensei Foundation, a Cayman Islands Foundation Company, and a subsidiary of the Sensei Foundation BVI, a charitable trust established in the British Virgin Islands to promote the league and the sport of karate. For more information, please visit www.Karate.com
