Yuga Labs gets partial win, fees in Bored Apes NFT trademark case

Bored Ape Yacht Club’s non-fungible token maker, Yuga Labs Inc., convinced a federal judge in California to throw out several counterclaims filed by artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, whom Yuga has accused of selling knock-off Bored Ape NFTs .

Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California struck Ripp’s and Cahen’s counterclaims alleging intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress under California’s statute barring strategic public participation actions. Walters also awarded Yuga attorneys’ fees and costs related to the affected claims.

Ripps and Cahen did not allege “extreme or outrageous” conduct by Yuga Labs sufficient to sustain the counterclaims, Walter wrote. “Instead, the alleged conduct in this case constitutes garden-variety litigation-related activities, public relations activities, and a handful of miscellaneous communications related to the public dispute between the parties.”

Yuga Labs initially sued the two artists in June 2022, alleging that Ripps defrauded consumers into buying fake Bored Ape NFTs by using Yuga Labs’ registered trademarks. Last December, the artists appealed Walter’s decision to deny their Anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Ripps alleged that the lawsuit was intended to silence him and said his “RR/BAYC” NFTs are protected free speech that criticizes neo-Nazi and alt-right imagery that he believes is featured in Yuga Labs’ NFTs.

The Bored Ape NFT collection, which was released in 2021, features images of cartoon monkeys and achieved great popularity with over $2 billion in total sales with several celebrities purchasing the NFTs – including Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg and Mark Cuban. The theft of Seth Green’s Bored Ape, among other events related to the NFT collection, led to a number of legal questions regarding the ownership of tokens and the intellectual property rights that come with them.

Walter declined to plead Ripp’s and Cahen’s counterclaims that Yuga Labs knowingly and materially misrepresented that RR/BAYC NFTs infringed copyright by submitting takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He said the issue is better resolved through a motion for summary judgment.

In an emailed statement, Yuga Labs said its motion for summary judgment, filed under seal earlier this month, “shows that the sole counterclaim moving forward is equally meritless, and we expect the court will ultimately dismiss it.”

The company recently settled a separate lawsuit against Thomas Lehman, an NFT market maker who it said was a key part of Ripps’ RR/BAYC team.

Representatives for Ripps and Cahen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is Yuga Labs, Inc. v. Ripps et al., CD Cal., No. 2:22-cv-04355, counterclaim dismissed 3/17/23.