Yuga Labs Settles Bored Ape NFT Trademark Lawsuit Against Ryder Ripps

TLDR

• Yuga Labs settled its two-year lawsuit against artist Ryder Ripps and business partner Jeremy Cahen over copycat Bored Ape NFTs
• The RR/BAYC collection reused Bored Ape Yacht Club imagery, which Ripps claimed was satire and protected art
• A judge initially awarded Yuga nearly $9 million in damages, but an appeals court overturned that ruling
• The settlement permanently bars Ripps and Cahen from using Yuga’s trademarks and imagery
• Settlement terms were not publicly disclosed

Yuga Labs has settled its lawsuit against artist Ryder Ripps and his business partner Jeremy Cahen. The case centered on an NFT collection that copied imagery from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The lawsuit was filed in 2022. Yuga claimed Ripps and Cahen sold lookalike tokens under the name RR/BAYC and earned millions by confusing buyers into thinking the tokens were connected to the original collection.

Ripps pushed back on that claim. He described his project as “expressive appropriation art” and argued it was a satirical statement protected under the First Amendment. He also accused the original Bored Ape Yacht Club of hiding racist and antisemitic imagery in its artwork, which Yuga called part of a harassment campaign.

In 2023, U.S. District Judge John Walter sided with Yuga. He ruled the copycat tokens could cause confusion in the NFT market and violated Yuga’s trademark rights.

Walter ordered Ripps and Cahen to pay nearly $9 million in disgorgement of profits, penalties, and legal fees.

Appeals Court Steps In

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit later overturned that ruling. While the court dismissed much of Ripps’ fair use argument, it vacated the $9 million penalty and ordered the case to go to trial so a jury could decide whether buyers were actually misled.

That Ninth Circuit ruling is widely seen as setting a precedent that NFTs can be protected under trademark law.

The settlement now avoids that trial entirely. A court filing in California federal court proposed orders that would permanently bar Ripps and Cahen from using Yuga’s trademarks or imagery going forward.

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Background on the Parties

Ripps had also created attention around the case by claiming he destroyed the private keys to the RR/BAYC project. Yuga later asked the court to sanction him over that claim.

Cahen, also known online as Pauly0x, had created an NFT marketplace called Not Larva Labs. The name referenced Larva Labs, the original creators of CryptoPunks. Yuga Labs at one point owned the CryptoPunks intellectual property.

Bored Ape Yacht Club became one of the most recognized NFT brands during the market’s peak years. The collection drew celebrity buyers and reached some of the highest prices in the NFT space.

The two-year legal dispute is now closed following the settlement filed on April 8, 2026.

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