Bored Ape Yacht Club: Yuga Labs scores win against artists

Yuga Labs Inc., maker of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible tokens, recently achieved a partial win in a trademark lawsuit against artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen. A federal judge in California threw out a number of counterclaims from the artists and granted Yuga Labs compensation for attorney’s fees.

Yuga Labs fends off emotional distress allegations

Judge John F. Walter, presiding over the case in the Central District of California, dismissed the counterclaims by Ripps and Cahen that accused Yuga Labs of causing intentional and negligent emotional distress.

These counterclaims were based on California’s statute that prevents strategic lawsuits against public participation. Judge Walter determined that the artists failed to provide adequate evidence of “extreme or outrageous” conduct by Yuga Labs to support their claims.

In June 2022, Yuga Labs first filed the lawsuit against Ripps and Cahen, alleging that they had sold counterfeit Bored Ape NFTs utilizing Yuga Labs’ trademarked material. The artists challenged Judge Walter’s refusal to approve their Anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the case in December.

Ripps maintained that the legal action was intended to suppress his voice, claiming that his “RR/BAYC” NFTs were a commentary on what he perceives as neo-Nazi and alt-right symbols in Yuga Labs’ NFTs.

Bored Ape mania: Fame, fortune & IP disputes

Launched in 2021, the Bored Ape NFT collection showcases animated apes and has amassed over $2 billion in sales. High-profile celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and Mark Cuban, have acquired these NFTs and since then, legal concerns surrounding NFT ownership and related intellectual property rights have emerged.

Yuga Labs expressed in a statement that the ruling indicates Ripps and Cahen attempted to exploit their counterclaims to hinder Yuga Labs’ defense of the Bored Ape Yacht Club brand. The company stressed that the primary focus of the lawsuit is the artists’ conspicuous infringement on Yuga Labs’ trademarks.

Yuga Labs faces DMCA counterclaim and NFT copyright dispute continues

Nonetheless, Judge Walter did not dismiss the artists’ counterclaim accusing Yuga Labs of falsely claiming copyright infringement of the RR/BAYC NFTs by submitting takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He suggested that a motion for summary judgment would be a more appropriate method for resolving the issue. 

Yuga Labs, believing in the strength of its case, anticipates that the court will ultimately reject the remaining counterclaim. In the meantime, Yuga Labs has reached a settlement in a separate lawsuit against Thomas Lehman, an NFT market developer allegedly connected to Ripps’ RR/BAYC project.

Representatives for Ripps and Cahen have yet to provide comments on the matter.

Source: nft.news