Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Reaches Settlement in NFT Copyright Dispute
The creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs, has resolved its protracted legal battle with Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, two artists who allegedly replicated its NFT designs for their own collection, bringing closure to a dispute that began in 2022.
The company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, Yuga Labs, has brought an end to its extended legal dispute with two artists who were alleged to have generated profits from NFTs that resembled its own designs.
Based on court documents submitted to the District Court for the Central District of California this Tuesday, Yuga Labs along with artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen informed the court that they had come to a settlement agreement.
Under the terms of the settlement, both Ripps and Cahen face a permanent prohibition from utilizing Yuga Lab's visual content and trademarks, and they must transfer ownership of the smart contracts, domain names and any remaining NFTs connected to their RR/BAYC collection to Yuga Labs over the course of the next 10 days.
The court has additionally ordered both individuals to refrain from attempting to "transfer, assign, conceal, or otherwise dispose of any NFTs, domains, accounts, or other assets referenced in this Injunction, or cause any of the foregoing, for the purpose of avoiding or frustrating compliance."
Legal saga ends after nearly four years
The case had been set for a jury trial following a court decision that favored Yuga Labs, which prompted Ripps and Cahen to file appeals against the judgments.
The initial lawsuit was filed by Yuga Labs in June 2022, in which the company accused Ripps and Cahen of duplicating its Bored Ape Yacht Club cartoon ape imagery, marketing copycat NFTs, and generating millions in profits as buyers mistook one project for the other.
Legal representatives for Ripps and Cahen contended that the RR/BAYC NFTs, which were first minted in May 2022, constituted satire and a parody of the authentic Bored Ape Yacht Club collection and were therefore protected by free speech laws.
In April 2023, the court issued a ruling that sided with Yuga Labs and determined that Ripps and Cahen had infringed upon copyright laws through their creation of unauthorized versions of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and mandated them to pay $1.37 million from their profits, in addition to an extra $200,000.
The financial penalty subsequently increased to $9 million after Ripps and Cahen were unsuccessful in a counterclaim in 2024. An appeals court later reversed the judgment in 2025 and determined that a jury trial was necessary to settle the matter and establish whether Yuga's trademarks had been infringed upon.