One of the founders of the Bosen Ape Yacht Club copycat NFT RR / BAYC collection has filed a notice of opposition against 10 trademark applications from Yuga Labs.
The move marks another strange twist in the intellectual property dispute between BAYC creator Yuga Labs and RR/BAYC co-founders Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen.
Cahen filed a notice of opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on February 9. The opposition status on all trademark filings currently reads “pending” at the time of writing.
Yuga Labs’ trademark application is typically filed in the latter half of 2021, and covers multiple BAYC logos, artwork and branding for potential use in digital products such as NFT-based art, trading cards and Metaverse wearables.
The filing also notes the potential for physical BAYC products including clothing, jewelry, watches and key chains, along with entertainment services such as games, television and music.
Speaking to Bloomberg Law on February 11, a spokesperson for Yuga Labs played down the chances of Cahen’s opposition succeeding and suggested that the move was just another attempt to cause trouble for the company.
“The Trademark Office has approved Yuga Labs’ trademark application for registration, and we expect full approval in due course,” he said, adding:
“Jeremy Cahen’s filing is just another attempt to distract from the real issue, infringing on Yuga’s intellectual property.”
In the notice, Cahen laid out a long list of “reasons for opposition” to Yuga Labs’ filing. Specifically, Cahen claims that the company “relinquishes any rights” to certain logo designs and artwork due to the sale of BAYC NFTs that give “all rights” to those digital images to their owners.
He also claimed that Yuga Labs is not the rightful owner of the custom skull design as the company is supposed to hand over the rights to the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) ApeCoin in March 2022.
Additionally, Cahen argued that Yuga Labs failed to provide a “bona fide intent to lawfully use” its trademark in its filing because NFTs must be registered and classified as securities under federal law.
related: Good News: Find love in Paris Hilton’s metaverse, BTC CryptoPunks soar and more
BAYC creator Yuga Labs sued digital artists Ryder Ripps and Cahen in June for using BAYC imagery in their RR/BAYC collection. The company also said the duo was deliberately “trolling Yuga Labs and deceiving consumers” into buying copycat NFTs.
Cahen’s move also comes just three days after Yuga Labs settled a separate lawsuit against the RR/BAYC website and smart contract developer Thomas Lehman.
As part of the settlement, Lehman essentially agreed to a permanent injunction barring him from partaking in any “confusingly similar” BAYC-related projects. In the statement, Lehman also distanced himself from Ryder Ripp and Cahen.