Bored Apes owner settles with developer who worked on Copycat NFTs

Thomas Lehman, who coded the smart contract for a nonfungible token (NFT) project by artist Ryder Ripps that mimics the Bored Ape collection, has settled with owner Yuga Labs over allegations of trademark infringement.

Lehman will be restricted from using Bored Ape marks and logos in future projects, according to the court document. The remaining terms of the settlement, announced today, were not released.

“It was never my intention to harm Yuga Labs’ brand, and I reject any derogatory statements about Yuga Labs and its founders and appreciate their many positive contributions to the NFT space,” Lehman said in a statement.

As part of its role in building the RR/BAYC smart contract and website, Lehman would receive 15% of all profits generated from the pool, according to a person close to the matter.

Lehman has 14 days to burn any RR/BAYC NFTs or give them to Yuga Labs, according to the filing. It seems he has already burned his NFTs, as a wallet linked to Lehman started burning RR/BAYC chunks in the last 2 days, according to data from Etherscan.

Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, sued Lehman and co-developer Ryan Hickman on January 20. It said Lehman in creating the RR/BAYC smart contract and website “ratified and supported the explicitly deceptive use of Yuga Labs’ marks” on NFT marketplaces and sales tracker Etherscan. The Hickman case remains unresolved.

Yuga Labs sued the RR/BAYC project in federal court in Los Angeles on June 24, alleging that its creators, Ripps, a Forbes 30 under 30 alumnus, and Jeremy Cahen, created the project to intentionally mislead customers of the BAYC project. Ripps and Cahen, according to the original complaint, targeted the company in a “campaign of harassment based on false accusations of racism.”

Hickman, Ripps and Cahen did not immediately respond Forbes’ request for comment.

“We are pleased that Mr. Lehman acknowledged his role in helping former cohorts Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen infringe Yuga Labs’ trademarks by developing, marketing and selling counterfeit NFTs.” a Yuga Labs spokesperson told Forbes in an email. “Yuga Labs looks forward to holding Mr. Ripps and Mr. Cahen accountable for their wrongdoing supported by a campaign of vicious and baseless lies and appreciates Mr. Lehman’s repudiation of their actions.”

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