Yuga Labs, the organization behind the well-known Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, has won a legal victory in the form of a partial summary judgment in its action against Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen from a U.S. court in California.
The RR/BAYC NFT collection, created by Ripps and Cahen, featured primates in poses reminiscent of those in Bored Apes and utilized BAYC-like marketing tactics. The two claim that the BAYC NFT has hidden Nazi imagery, racist dog whistles, and 4chan memes since they designed RR/BAYC as a satirical and critical response to Yuga Labs. The founders of BAYC completely refute this narrative, despite the fact that it has gained traction in some online communities.
Yuga Labs vs Ripps
Yuga filed a lawsuit in June 2022, claiming that Ripps and his accomplices were intentionally confusing consumers while pretending to be satire, making millions of dollars in unfair profits, and taking joy in the harm their accusations had done to the BAYC.
The defendants used the BAYC marks, which refer to the images, to sell RR/BAYC NFTs without Yuga Labs’ consent and in a “manner likely to cause confusion,” confusing consumers intending to buy an actual BAYC NFT or track their value with token tracking tools. According to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Yuga Labs owns the BAYC trademarks, which are valid and enforceable.
Additionally, the court determined that because Yuga’s BAYC marks were well-known in the industry and the RR/BAYC project was meant to mislead, the defendants’ use of the BAYC marks did not qualify as either fair use or an artistic expression under something known as the Rogers Test.
The judge concluded that the defendant’s actions are motivated by a malicious intent to profit and that the two are engaging in cybersquatting. The court also found that the domain names rrbayc.com and apemarket.com that the defendants registered and used have the potential to cause confusion.
Yuga Labs asserted that it should be compensated for the cybersquatting with $200,000 in statutory damages. The court, however, denied this claim and stated that the calculation of damages would occur during a pending trial.
