Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (“BAYC”) non-fungible token (NFT) collection, has sued an artist in Los Angeles federal court, accusing him of selling identical NFTs that are confusing potential buyers.
Yuga Labs asserts that Ryder Ripps (“Ripps”) is intentionally causing consumer confusion under the guise of satire and has earned millions in “ill-gotten profit” while “celebrating the harm he causes.”
Ripps has allegedly infringed onYuga Labs by creating a complete copy of BAYC’s NFT images. The lawsuit alleges trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and cybersquatting (the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name, with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else).
Yuga Labs also said in the complaint that Ripps targeted the company in a “campaign of harassment based on false accusations of racism.” The Yuga Labs’ creators published an angry letter refering to Ripps as a “demented troll” and claiming people are “spreading ridiculous conspiracy theories online and using them to sell knockoff NFTs.” Yuga Labs further characterized Ripps’ accusations that the BAYC creators are secret Nazis as a “crazy disinformation campaign.”
A statement on Ripps’ NFT website says Bored Ape Yacht Club has “extensive connections” to “subversive internet nazi troll culture” and that Ripps’ NFTs recontextualize the pieces.
Although Ripps has a First...
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