Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen Take $9m Hit in BAYC Lawsuit

Digital artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen have suffered a major legal setback as a court threw out their counterclaims in their ongoing copyright lawsuit against Yuga Labs.

The court ordered Ripps and Cahen to pay almost $9 million in damages, including legal fees, fees for an expert witness, and money they were wrongfully taken.

Ripps and Cahen’s Unauthorized NFT Legal Battle

Ripps and Cahen started a collection without permission called Ryder Ripps BAYC (RR/BAYC) in May 2022. They did this to take advantage of the popularity of the original BAYC non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This caused a legal dispute, with Yuga Labs accusing the artists of copying their work.

Even though a judge ruled in favor of Yuga Labs in April and gave them $1.57 million in damages, the case was considered over. However, the most recent court order threw out the artists’ counterclaims and increased the fines they had to pay.

BREAKING: Yuga Labs wins summary judgment against Ryder Ripps & RR/BAYC project in intellectual property lawsuit.

— nft now (@nftnow) April 22, 2023

The court said that Ripps and Cahen had to either destroy any RR/BAYC NFTs or give them to Yuga Labs so that they could be destroyed. This order doesn’t cover any illegal materials, like books, software, advertising items, or ads with any BAYC trademark on them. 

The artists must also give Yuga Labs control of their social media accounts and the smart contract connected to the RR/BAYC NFTs. This will cut all ties between them and the illegal collection.

Responding to the court’s decision, Cahen, who goes by the online name Pauly0x, said they planned to file an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of California. Some of the counterclaims thrown out were for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and for a declaratory ruling that there was no defamation.

BREAKING

On a Saturday, The Federal Court has entered its final judgement against me in my case vs. YugaLabs.

Judgement Total: $9,112,496.50

(Note: My name is misspelled in the order)

We are appealing this outcome in the Ninth Circuit Court of California.

Case is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/fHcEsbBL6a

— PAULY (@Pauly0x) February 3, 2024

It’s clear from this case that making and sharing NFTs can be tricky and have legal consequences, especially if they violate existing laws and infringe on copyrighted material.

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