Bored Ape NFT spinoff venture gone sour- lawsuits fly
Lawsuits are flying over neon-colored digital depictions of monkeys covered with cake frosting and candles, the latest legal battle to hit the world of NFTs. A group of artists created the so-called Caked Apes in January, a spinoff series of the wildly popular and lucrative Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. Now the artists are suing each other over derivative designs of the nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and fighting over how to share revenue.
Dueling lawsuits have been filed in Los Angeles federal court. Taylor Whitley filed suit Friday, claiming four Caked Apes members infringed digital designs and ousted him from the project. On Sunday, Jacob Nygard and three members filed their own lawsuit, accusing Whitley of trying to claim ownership of their joint venture and misusing a federal copyright law to get the collection taken off online marketplaces.
Legal fights are cropping up more frequently in the lucrative world of NFTs, on issues ranging from trademark infringement to ownership. The Bored Ape brand has become a status symbol coveted by celebrity musicians and athletes, with $1.5 billion in all-time sales, according to blockchain data tracker CryptoSlam. It offers an unlimited license to derivative works from the apes, which has led to a number of spinoff projects.
“This is one of the first cases dealing with the Bored Ape license and what’s allowed and not allowed,” said John Snow, Nygard’s attorney.
Whitley owns 11 Bored Apes, while Nygard owns three Mutant Apes, which were created by the same founders of Bored Apes and granted similar rights to create derivative works, according to the suit. Clare Maguire, a project member on Nygard’s side, owns one Bored Ape design, according to the suit.
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