Lil Yachty Settles Lawsuit Against NFT Seller Opulous – Billboard

Lil Yachty has settled with a non-fungible token (NFT) seller called Opulous over claims the company used his name and likeness without permission to raise over $6.5 million in venture capital funding.

Yachty (real name Miles Parks McCollum) sued the company last year, claiming Opulous launched a promotional blitz for a “Lil Yachty NFT Collection” that would give buyers access to new music from the rapper — without ever securing approval.

But in a filing on Tuesday (April 11), the company’s lawyers notified a federal judge that it had reached a settlement with Yachty to resolve the case. They said the case would be dismissed within 45 days of the deal being finalised. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on the settlement.

Yachty’s suit against Opulous was one of several lawsuits filed last year over NFTs, a vibrant form of digital collectible that skyrocketed in popularity in 2021. But the market for NFTs largely collapsed last year, and the lawsuits against them also starting to fall off. .

In his January 2022 complaint, Yachty called the Opulous project, which also included photos of him, a “flagrant and deliberate disregard of plaintiffs’ exclusive legal rights.” It further claimed that the company did press interviews about his alleged involvement in the project.

His lawyers said Opulous had pitched his management team about a potential partnership and joined a second call for a “general introductory meeting” but the two sides never came close to signing a deal.

“There was no further communication between the parties and, accordingly, no agreement or terms of agreement were ever reached for plaintiff’s involvement in defendants’ launch of the Opulous platform,” the lawsuit said.

But even without his approval, Opulous then reportedly announced that they would be launching a line of music NFTs and “kicking things off with a series of must-have NFT drops led by world-renowned artists, including Lil Yachty.” It was allegedly followed by a number of social media posts with similar claims, as well as photos of the rapper, the lawsuit states.

The suit, which also called Opulous founder Lee James Parson and his Ditto Music as defendants, alleged a number of specific violations, including trademark infringement, unfair competition and violation of Lil Yachty’s so-called right of publicity – the right to control how your name and image are commercially exploited.