Yuga Labs Ends Four-Year NFT Copycat Battle With Settlement Deal

Yuga Labs has finally resolved its protracted legal dispute with artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen over unauthorized Bored Ape Yacht Club knockoffs, according to court filings submitted Tuesday to the District Court for the Central District of California. The settlement brings closure to one of crypto's messiest intellectual property battles.

Settlement Terms Hand Victory to BAYC Creator

Under the agreement, Ripps and Cahen face a permanent injunction barring them from using Yuga Labs' imagery and trademarks. More significantly, they must transfer control of all smart contracts, domains, and remaining NFTs tied to their RR/BAYC project to Yuga Labs within 10 days. The court has also imposed strict asset-freezing orders, explicitly prohibiting the pair from "transfer, assign, conceal, or otherwise dispose of any NFTs, domains, accounts, or other assets" to dodge compliance.

The RR/BAYC NFTs remain visible on OKX Wallet as of publication, though their fate now rests with Yuga Labs' ownership transfer.

How We Got Here: Nearly Four Years of Legal Warfare

This dispute has been a grinding marathon. Yuga Labs initiated the original complaint in June 2022, alleging that Ripps and Cahen systematically copied its iconic Bored Ape cartoon imagery and profited millions by capitalizing on user confusion between the legitimate and counterfeit collections. The artists' defense hinged on a bold legal argument: their RR/BAYC project constituted protected parody and satire under free speech provisions.

The courts weren't buying it.

In April 2023, the initial ruling sided decisively with Yuga Labs, finding clear copyright infringement. The court ordered Ripps and Cahen to forfeit $1.37 million in profits plus an additional $200,000 in penalties. However, when the pair lost a counterclaim in 2024, the damages ballooned to $9 million—a devastating financial blow.

But the saga took a procedural twist in 2025 when an appeals court tossed the judgment, determining that a jury trial was constitutionally required to properly adjudicate the trademark infringement claims. This development shifted the legal landscape, suggesting Yuga Labs wanted finality rather than rolling the dice on a prolonged jury proceeding.

What This Means for NFT Intellectual Property

This settlement establishes a practical precedent in crypto's still-murky IP landscape. While the parody defense failed in this instance, Yuga Labs' aggressive enforcement strategy—combined with multiple judicial wins—demonstrates that NFT creators maintain legitimate legal recourse against copycat projects. The agreement reinforces that building on another creator's trademarked imagery isn't defensible simply by framing it as commentary.