- Yuga Labs settled the lawsuit against developers of the pseudo copycat BAYC NFTs.
- Thomas Lehman conceded to Yuga’s ownership of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.
- Ryder Ripps, Thomas Lehman, and Jeremy Cahen are accused of trolling and scamming investors and traders into buying the copycat BAYC NFTs.
It is a good day for the creators of the popular NFT collection, BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club), and a lesson learned for collaborator and website designer Thomas Lehman who helped internet provocateur Ryder Ripps.
On February 6, Yuga Labs, the creator of the non-fungible token (NFT) ‘BAYC,’ settled a lawsuit involving Thomas Lehman for his participation and assistance in aiding the sales of misleading BAYC NFTs created by digital artist Ryder Ripps.
According to the lawsuit filed in January, Thomas Lehman was accused of assisting Ryder and Jeremy Cahen to create and promote the pseudo NFTs on social media, reaping off the creative skills and originality of Yuga Labs. The lawsuit claimed that the act was a deliberate attempt to harm Yuga Labs at the expense of consumers by spreading confusion.
Thomas Lehman assisted in creating the smart contracts for the pseudo-NFT collection called “RR/BAYC.” When the company behind the blue-chip group came across this information, it sued Thomas for trademark infringement despite the previous suits against Ryder Ripps.
How did this happen?
In early 2022, American digital artist Ryder Ripps began spreading false information about Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), claiming that the famous NFT mimic monkeys collection had hidden pro-Nazi and racist imagery.
In May 2022, Ryder released a copycat collection of BAYC NFTs, alleging it was an artistic and political statement. Ryder released 10,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, stating that his NFTs showed Yuga Labs’ relation with Nazis and the legal concerns linked with the NFTs.
According to Law360, Yuga Labs and Thomas Lehman agreed to permanently prohibit Lehman from using any confusingly identical BAYC content or controlling any social media pages implying an association with the NFT company.
“It was never my intention to harm Yuga Labs’ image, and I reject all disparaging statements made about Yuga Labs and its founders,” Lehman said.
In a conversation between Law360 and a spokesperson from Yuga Labs, the NFT company stated that it was pleased that Thomas Lehman admitted to infringing on Yuga’s trademarks with his cohorts—Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen.
Thomas Lehman gained heavily from the sales and trading of the RR/BAYC NFTs, gaining 15% profits from the collection.
In June 2022, Yuga Labs accused Ryder and Cahen of trolling and scamming NFT traders and investors into buying their copycat NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Yuga alleged that Ripps made over $5 million by pumping and dumping pseudo NFTs.
Conclusion
Although the terms of Thomas’ settlement with Yuga Labs are classified, a federal court filing revealed that Lehman acknowledged both Yuga’s ownership of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and his infringement on the trademarks as part of his involvement in the RR/BAYC project.
