Yuga Labs solves long-standing NFT dispute.
Bored Up Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs has settled a long-running lawsuit against a pair of artists accused of profiting off NFTs.
Yuga Labs and artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen have reached a settlement agreement, according to documents filed Tuesday in the District Court for the Central District of California.
As part of the settlement, Rips and Cahen are permanently barred from using YugaLabs images and trademarks and will transfer modern contracts, domains and residual NFTs related to their RR/BAYC project to YugaLabs within the next 10 days.
The court also ordered the pair “not to transfer, assign, conceal or dispose of any NFTs, domains, accounts or other assets referred to in this order or to do anything to avoid or frustrate compliance with the foregoing.”
The legal saga ends after four years
The court ruled in favor of Yuga Labs that the case was originally scheduled for trial, and Rips and Cahen appealed the ruling.
Yuga Labs first filed suit in June 2022, accusing Rips and Cahen of copying Bored Up Yacht Club cartoon monkey images, selling NFT-like NFTs and making millions from users confusing the two projects.
Attorneys for Rips and Cahen argued that the RR/BAYC NFTs, first filed in May 2022, were satirical and a collection of genuine bored-up yacht clubs and protected by free speech laws.
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In April 2023, a court ruled in favor of Yuga Labs that Rips and Cahen violated copyright laws by creating unauthorized versions of the Board Up Yacht Club NFTs and ordered them to pay $1.37 million of their profits plus an additional $200,000.
The fine was increased to $9 million in 2024 after Rips and Cahen lost their appeals. An appeals court threw out the verdict in 2025 and decided to set the case for a jury trial to decide whether Yuga's trademarks had been infringed.
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