The curator of the notorious NFT collection BAYC and MAYC, Yuga Labs marked triumph in its 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.
Judge Walter said that Yuga Labs owns an iconic trademark and defendants were probably using it with bad faith to book profit.
Furthermore, the court found that the website domain of the NFT collection apemarket.com and rrbayc.com are meant for cybersquatting, and could be mistaken by people for the original BAYC collections.
However, the court has denied Yuga Labs’ motion to cover damages. The damage will be determined during the court trial.
Cahen and Ripps referred to their RR/BAYC endeavour, which involves replicas of the original Bored Ape Yacht Club profile pictures (PFPs), as a parody that is guarded by the First Amendment. They labelled the Yuga Labs lawsuit as lacking seriousness. However, the judge sees the collection’s images as an exact replica of BAYC that “do not express an idea or point of view”.
On the other hand, the court has also denied hearing Ryder Ripps and his collaborators’ allegation on Yuga Labs that they paid celebrities to promote BAYC without revealing they were compensated, saying it’s a different matter.
Also Read: Yuga Labs Founders to be Deposed in the Ryder Ripps Lawsuit
