An artist, Ryder Ripps and his co-defendant Jeremy Cahen were found guilty of copying Yuga Labs’ NFTs and selling them under the name RR/BAYC.
The Central District of California’s Judge John F. Walter found on April 21 that Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen had violated Yuga Labs’ trademark and dismissed their claims that their imitation endeavor was an act of artistic expression or satire.
The judge concluded that Ripps and Cahen had violated the law with the intention of making money off of it. He continued by noting that rather than conveying any views or points of view, the defendants’ attempt simply linked to the same web photographs associated with the BAYC collection.
Additionally, according to Judge Walter, the effort by Ripps and Cahen was not protected by the First Amendment since it was commercial speech rather than artistic expression.
With some of its digital apes fetching more than $1 million each, BAYC is a successful NFT project. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton, who have advertised their monkeys on national television, have drawn attention to the collection.
The collection, however, has also come under fire for purportedly making reference to neo-Nazi imagery and employing apes in racist ways. Azealia Banks’ ex-husband Ripps, a conceptual artist, detailed these allegations on his website, duplicated the BAYC NFTs, and released them as RR/BAYC in May 2022.
He asserted that his endeavor was a critique of Yuga Labs’ methods as well as an aesthetic comment on the nature of NFTs. In addition, Ripps claimed to democratize access to the collection by selling his NFTs for a significant discount from the original BAYC NFTs.
Shortly after, Yuga Labs brought legal action against Ripps and Cahen, charging them with trademark infringement, deceptive advertising, and unfair competition.
The NFT company claimed that Ripps and Cahen had improperly exploited the BAYC trademarks to mislead members of the community into purchasing their NFTs rather than the legitimate ones. Additionally, it denied any connection to bigotry or neo-Nazi symbols.
Louis Tompros, the attorney for Ripps, has declared that they will appeal the decision, contesting both the validity of Yuga Labs’ trademarks in NFTs and the First Amendment problems they felt Judge Walter’s decision failed to adequately consider. At a trial slated for June, damages will be decided.
