Creators of counterfeit BAYC tokens to pay $1.6m to Yuga Labs.

The U.S. District Court ordered artist Ryder Ripps and the founder of the NFT-marketplace Not Larva Labs, Jeremy Caen, to pay Yuga Labs approximately $1.575 million in compensation for creating counterfeit tokens BAYC.

In June 2022, the company behind RR/BAYC accused Ripps and Caen of issuing and selling copied NFTs under the name RR/BAYC, which ‘devalues’ the original works.

In October, the defendants filed motions to dismiss Yuga Labs’ claims, but the court denied them.

‘This case is markedly different from most trademark-infringement cases, because the defendants use satire and parody to justify the use of BAYC marks without the company’s consent,’ the ruling states.

The judge noted that the defendants ‘hindered and were evasive’ during testimony.

Damages include $1.366 million in gross profits from sales and $117,309 in royalties.

Offsets will be applied, as they must transfer the smart contract governing unminted NFTs worth $106,055. They will also have $108,037 forgiven due to payments to other business partners.

Ripps and Caen will transfer control of affiliated web domains to Yuga Labs. In addition, both were barred from selling products under the Bored Ape brand.

In January 2022, Ripps published an article in which he described the BAYC collection as ‘racist’ and accused its creators of using Nazi symbolism. For instance, he noted that the line’s logo resembles a Death’s Head.