Yuga Labs Wins Battle With The Impersonator Ryder Ripps

In May 2022, Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen produced the BAYC derivative NFT collection RR/BAYC as a parody and protested against Yuga Laboratories. The project makes extensive use of footage from the BAYC NFTs.

Yuga Labs sued content producer Ryder Ripps and the NFT RR/BAYC collection in mid-2022, saying he infringed on intellectual property rights by advertising “similar” digital art pieces, such as the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, in order to fool viewers and benefit themselves.

On February 6, 2023, Thomas Lehman, a smart contract developer and the owner of a website that sells counterfeit collections agreed to a settlement with Yuga Labs to end the legal struggle.

Yuga Labs desires to hold Mr. Ripps and Mr. Cahen responsible for their violation via an evil and unjustified campaign of falsehoods, and Mr. Lehman’s rejection of their acts is appreciated. Nevertheless, the transaction seems to have failed.

Ripps, for one, sees his acts as a larger type of creative expression than being labeled as “appropriating” art. But, the character failed the court’s “Rogers test,” which evaluates “artistic expression” based on the link between the topic and the artwork.

A U.S. district court in central California ruled on April 21 in a pre-trial summary judgment judgement that Ripps and Cahen had violated Yuga Lab’s trademarks with their RR/BAYC NFT collection.

The Court also found that Yuga Labs is entitled to an injunction and damages, which will be established at trial.

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