Yuga Labs Inc. is the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and has reached an agreement to settle its legal dispute with a developer. According to the developer, collectors were tricked into buying counterfeit Bored Ape NFTs.
Yuga Labs brought legal action against Thomas Lehman in January for his role helping Ryder Ripps, conceptual artist, create NFTs with Bored Ape’s images and name. These alleged counterfeiters tried to undermine the legitimacy of the original artwork by using the RR/BAYC trademark.
Yuga Labs expressed delight at the confidential agreement reached with Lehman, and expressed gratitude for his acknowledgment of their involvement. Yuga Labs stated that they were “pleased” by Mr Lehman’s acknowledgment of his role in helping former colleagues Ryder Ripps (Jeremy Cahen) to infringe Yuga Labs trademarks.
Yuga Labs Material will no longer be owned by developers
Thomas Lehman, the accused, denied any involvement in counterfeiting Yuga Labs NFTs. However, they agreed to share ownership of all Yuga Labs and similar materials.
Lehman stated in a statement that “it was never my intention not to harm Yuga Labs’s brand”, and that he rejects all negative statements about Yuga Labs or its founders. He also expressed appreciation for their positive contributions to NFT space.
Lehman and the company filed an injunction to stop Lehman from operating under the BAYC or any other marks that could be confusing in relation to RR/BAYC FFTs.
The developers are required to remove any material in their possession or control that displays the BAYC marks or similar marks, as well as all RR/BAYC NFTs.
Ryder Ripps is facing a lawsuit
The creators of Bored Ape yacht club filed a lawsuit against Ripps & Cahen in June 2022 for misleading buyers into purchasing phony Bored Ape NFTs using Yuga Labs’ trademarks.
Ripps was charged with false marketing and trademark violation in an attempt to devalue Bored Ape NFTs. This deception netted Ripps millions. To gain an advantage, he used what was called “pumping & dumping” fake NFTs.
Ripps, along with Lehman and Hickman, may have created a website where users could reserve an NFT to be mint by Ripps.
According to Yuga’s claims, these NFTs used exact the same images as Yuga. The “new” collection was called “RR/BAYC”. The website contained several Yuga trademarks such as “BAYC”, “BAYC” and “BAYC logos.”
Ripps’ case against him is still ongoing. According to Ripps, his NFT creation was a form protected free speech that exposed neo Nazi and alt-right imagery depicted within the Bored Ape collection. He feels that Yuga Labs’ lawsuit aims to silence this valid criticism, which he considers unacceptable.
NFT News Today‘s first article was “Yuga Labs Inc. settles Lawsuit with Developer”
