Bored Apes Earns Victory In Trademark Suit

On April 21, 2023, United States District Judge John F. Walter ruled for Yuga Labs, Inc. (Yuga) and its Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection in its trademark infringement suit against conceptual artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen (collectively, the "Artists").¹

Yuga accused the Artists of trademark infringement over their use of Yuga's BORED APE YACHT CLUB and BAYC trademarks (the "BAYC Marks") in their own NFT collection, which they named the "Ryder Ripps Bored Ape Yacht Club" (RR/BAYC). Aggravating Yuga further, the Artists' RR/BAYC NFT collection was based on the same digital artwork as Yuga's BAYC NFT collection.

In their defense, the Artists claimed that their use of the BAYC Marks was protected by the First Amendment. Specifically, Ripps had earlier criticized BAYC for using and embedding racist, neo-Nazi, and alt-right imagery and symbolisms in its NFTs. The Artists stated that their creation of NFTs using the same artwork was a form of