A U.S. district court judge has issued a decisive ruling in the longstanding legal battle between NFT artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen and the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs.
On October 25th, the judge ordered Ripps and Cahen to pay Yuga Labs a substantial sum of $1.57 million in disgorgement and damages, in addition to covering legal fees, effectively concluding the protracted “copycat” NFT lawsuit.
This development follows a partial summary judgment issued on April 21st, which favored Yuga Labs.
The judgment was based on Yuga Labs’ claim that Ripps and Cahen, the defendants, had infringed copyright laws by producing imitative versions of their BAYC collectibles.
District Court Judge John Walter, in his ruling, awarded Yuga Labs $1.37 million, affirming that the NFT company was entitled to a disgorgement of the defendants’ profits. An extra $200,000 was granted in statutory damages related to cybersquatting violations.
Furthermore, Judge Walter concluded that Yuga Labs was entitled to recover attorney fees and costs from the NFT artists due to the exceptional nature of the trademark infringement.
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He noted that an exceptional case for awarding attorney fees arises when a party exhibits “malicious, fraudulent, deliberate, or willful” behavior.
Judge Walter dismissed the defendants’ argument that their copycat BAYC versions were satirical or parodic, asserting that they had intentionally infringed on Yuga’s BAYC trademarks with an intent to profit in bad faith.
He also highlighted that the defendants continued to market and promote their copycat BAYC versions even after the partial summary judgment was delivered in April.
The lawsuit against Ripps and Cahen was initially filed by Yuga Labs in June 2022.
In an October 16th hearing in a U.S. appeals court, the lawyers for Ripps and Cahen attempted to argue that the lawsuit should be dismissed on grounds of free speech under California’s anti-SLAPP statute.
However, the three-judge panel did not appear swayed by their arguments.
Bored Ape Yacht Club stands as one of the most valuable NFT collectibles on the OpenSea marketplace.
Since April 2021, it has garnered an impressive 1.32 million Ether (ETH), equivalent to approximately $2.38 billion in trading volume, boasting an average floor price of 27.4 ETH, or roughly $49,200, according to data from OpenSea.
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