> For what it's worth, there's no way you can force every image manipulation tool and library to respect the NFTs,

Correct. But the license owner can require the license buyer to use editors that preserve NFTs or be subject to automated DMCA notices. Once Adobe and Apple start respecting the NFT-copyright-format in their tools, other commercial vendors will be forced by the market to support it too.

Again, I'm not in favor of any of this. Just admitting that I am pessimistic enough to see where all of this could end up eventually.