Ryder Ripps was ordered to pay Yuga Labs $1.6 million in the lawsuit

By Brayden Lindrea, Cointelegraph; Compiled: Pine Snow, Golden Finance

A U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE HAS ORDERED NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN (NFT) ARTISTS Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen to pay a total of $1.57 million in rebates and damages to the Bored Ape Yacht Club, ending the long-running “copycat” NFT lawsuit.

The October 25 ruling follows an April 21 partial summary judgment in favor of Yuga Labs. Yuga Labs alleges that defendants Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen violated copyright law by making a copycat version of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection.

District Judge John Walter ordered Yuga Labs to receive $1.37 million in return, arguing that the NFT company was entitled to the defendant’s profits. In addition, an additional $200,000 in statutory damages were awarded in connection with cybersquatting violations.

After a judge ruled that trademark infringement constituted a “special case,” Yuga Labs also had the right to recover attorneys’ fees from NFT artists.

The judge noted that “in trademark cases, when a party takes a position that can be described as ‘malicious, fraudulent, intentional’, it is considered exceptional in the award of attorneys’ fees.” ”

Judge Walter also rejected the defendant’s claim that the copycat version of BAYC was “satirical” and “parody,” ruling that the defendant had knowingly infringed Yuga’s BAYC trademark with malicious intent to profit from it.

He also noted that after a partial summary judgment was rendered against the defendant in April, the defendant continued to market and promote their copycat version of BAYC.

Yuga Labs filed a lawsuit against the two artists in June 2022.

At an October 16 U.S. appeals court hearing, Ripps and Kahn’s lawyers sought to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds of free speech under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. However, the three-judge jury did not appear to be persuaded by the lawyers’ arguments.

BAYC is one of the most valuable NFT collectibles on the NFT marketplace OpenSea.

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The BAYC collection is currently listed on OpenSea. Source: OpenSea

According to OpenSea, since April 2021, it has amassed 1.32 million Ethereum (ETH), or $2.38 billion in trading volume, with an average floor price of 27.4 ETH ($49,200).