Court Issues Mixed Ruling in Yuga Labs and Ryder Ripps NFT Case

According to BlockBeats, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered a mixed verdict in the ongoing legal battle between Yuga Labs, the issuer of Bored Ape NFTs, and artist Ryder Ripps. The case revolves around Ripps' sale of NFT replicas as "expressive appropriation art." The court determined that NFTs qualify as "goods" eligible for trademark protection, dismissing many of Ripps' legal arguments. However, it overturned a previous $8 million judgment against Ripps and remanded the case to a lower court. The lower court is tasked with re-evaluating whether the RR/BAYC NFTs caused consumer confusion. The dispute began in June 2022 when Yuga Labs accused Ripps of devaluing its brand by releasing the RR/BAYC NFT series. While the court rejected Ripps' defenses based on "expressive art" and First Amendment protections, it acknowledged the need for further evidence to assess the potential for consumer confusion.