Exciting news! The curator behind the legendary NFT collection BAYC and MAYC, Yuga Labs, just achieved a major victory in their ongoing trademark infringement case against NFT artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen. Earlier, Yuga Labs alleged that Ripps and Jeremy Cahen stole Yuga’s intellectual property without consent. Furthermore, they have used it to create their own NFT project, RR/BAYC.
In the latest judgement, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favour of Yuga Labs, saying Ripps’s use of BAYC trademarks does not contain fair use or artistic expression. Yuga Labs is entitled to an injunction and damages from Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen.
According to Judge Walter, defendants were likely using Yuga Labs’ renowned trademark in bad faith in order to make money.
The court also discovered that the NFT collection’s website domains, apemarket.com and rrbayc.com, were intended for cybersquatting and might lead some users to believe they are the genuine BAYC collections.
However, the court turned down Yuga Labs’ request to pay for damages. During the court case, the damage will be assessed.
According to Cahen and Ripps, their RR/BAYC project, which involves making copies of the original Bored Ape Yacht Club profile pictures (PFPs), is a parody that is protected by the First Amendment. They declared the Yuga Labs lawsuit to be not seriously pursued. But according to the judge, the collection’s pictures “do not express an idea or point of view” because they are exact replicas of BAYC.
The court, however, declined to hear Ryder Ripps and his associates’ claim that Yuga Labs paid celebrities to promote BAYC without disclosing they were paid, stating that this was a separate issue.
Compiled by Coinbold
