Yuga Labs Slams the Gavel: Bored Ape Copycat Catfight Settled Before Anyone Had to Get Boring in Court

Yuga Labs has settled its two-year courtroom saga against artist Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen over their RR/BAYC NFT collection, which basically hit ctrl+C on Bored Ape Yacht Club imagery and called it a new project. The agreement mercifully ends the dispute over whether the duo crossed the fine line between "edgy satire" and "trademark infringement 101."

The settlement avoids a trial like a degen avoids reading the whitepaper—swiftly and with zero regrets. It also permanently bars Ripps and Cahen from using Yuga's trademarks and imagery, according to a filing in California federal court. The terms were not disclosed, because apparently some things in crypto remain private, even after a lawsuit.

Yuga Labs filed the suit in 2022, claiming the pair sold lookalike tokens and raked in millions by confusing buyers who apparently couldn't tell the difference between a bored ape and a... different bored ape. The defendants, meanwhile, argued their work was protected satirical commentary on the actual Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. You know, like how posters of your neighbor's car with flames painted on it is definitely "social commentary."

A district judge initially sided with Yuga and awarded nearly $9 million in damages and fees, basically the NFT equivalent of a mic drop. But an appeals court later overturned that ruling, saying a jury should decide whether buyers were actually misled—which, let's be honest, might have opened up a whole can of worms nobody wanted to deal with. The settlement prevents that from happening, because settling is what happens when both sides realize courtroom drama is expensive and tweets don't pay legal bills.

The Bored Ape collection became one of the most recognizable NFT brands during the market's peak, spawning yacht parties, mutant variants, and enough cultural cachet to make cartoon apes the unofficial mascot of Web3 flex culture.