Yuga Labs won a lawsuit against the creators of the BAYC alternative NFT collection

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Yuga Labs, creatorNFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), announced that its claims for violation of trademark rights by an RR/BAYC employee were satisfied in court.

RR/BAYC is an alternative collection to BAYCNFT created by artist Ryder Ripps. According to Yuga Labs' lawsuit, RR/BAYC employee Thomas Lehman actively promoted the RR/BAYC NFT collection on social media in what was seen as a "deliberate attempt to harm harm to Yuga Labs at the expense of consumers by causing confusion regarding two collections that are similar in content.” According to the plaintiff, the RR/BAYC collection earned approximately $1.6 million in sales, of which Lehman personally received 15%.

As part of the settlement agreement, Thomas Lehmanwaived its claims to ownership of the BAYC trademark and admitted that it had infringed Yuga Labs' rights through its participation in the development and promotion of the alternative RR/BAYC collection. The terms of the settlement prohibit Lehman from further using any BAYC trademark, destroying any materials in his possession containing the mark, and burning any RR/BAYC NFT tokens he owns.

Previously, a California court ruled that the two founders of Yuga Labs, Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano, must
arrive in court to testify and leavepositions held. Both creators of the BAYC NFT collection were sentenced to temporary suspension for contempt of court, failure to appear at a hearing and willful refusal to testify without a valid reason.