The court decision marks a significant victory for Yuga Labs, the company responsible for the BAYC collection, as it rejected the counterclaims made by Ripps and Cahan in this high-profile copyright case.
Legal proceedings began in May 2022 after the launch of the Ryder Ripps BAYC (RR/BAYC) collection, with Yuga Labs accusing the artists of copyright infringement. In February 2023, the court ultimately ruled in favor of the company.
Initially, the court demanded that Ripps and Cahan pay $1.57 million for their creation of the counterfeit “bored monkeys” collection. However, the court has now significantly increased the fine to $9 million, including damages, legal fees, and compensation for expert witnesses.
Additionally, the court instructed the artists to either destroy all RR/BAYC tokens or transfer them to Yuga Labs for disposal. The order also covers any materials, such as marketing and advertising materials bearing the BAYC mark, that infringe on Yuga Labs’ copyrights.
Furthermore, the defendants were directed to relinquish all social media accounts and smart contracts associated with the RR/BAYC collection. Cahan has expressed plans to appeal this decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of California.
It is worth noting that in November, developer Aurelien Michel, responsible for the counterfeit Mutant Ape Planet collection, pled guilty to fraud and deceiving customers.