Yuga Labs Facing More Lawsuits Over NFTs

The beleaguered cryptocurrency and fintech company Yuga Labs is going to be hit with more legal action in connection with its nonfungible tokens (NFT) collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), and many other ventures.

On January 30, the worldwide legal firm Rosen Law Firm, which specialises in the protection of investor rights, made the announcement that it intends to bring a class action lawsuit against the company Yuga Labs.

Rosen sent an invitation to buyers of Yuga assets, such as BAYC NFTs and the native token ApeCoin (APE), to participate in the class action lawsuit filed against Yuga before to the deadline for the lead plaintiff, which was set for February 7.

The legal firm emphasised that investors in Yuga securities who bought BAYC and APE between April 23, 2021 and December 8, 2022 may be entitled to compensation without having to pay any additional costs as a result of a contingency fee arrangement. This compensation could be obtained without the payment of any additional costs.

The new action is going after a huge number of defendants, one of them is Wylie Aronow, co-founder of Yuga Labs. Aronow has been out of the office since January 28, alleging health difficulties as the reason for his absence. In addition, co-founder Greg Solano, billionaire BAYC founder Kerem Atalay, and Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz will be named as defendants in the lawsuit, along with a number of internationally renowned personalities and businesses, such as Madonna and Adidas and MoonPay.

This latest lawsuit is just another effort to make Yuga Labs responsible for the significant losses that NFT investors who purchased BAYC and APE over the previous several years have sustained as a result of the company’s actions. After hitting a high of $312,000 in April 2022, the average transaction value of BAYC NFTs had fallen to less than $85,000 by the time October 2022 rolled around. At the time of this writing, the floor price of BAYC NFTs dropped from around 144 ether (ETH), which is equivalent to $226,000, to 64 ether (which is equivalent to $100,000).

In December 2022, American litigants Adonis Real and Adam Titcher filed a case against Yuga Labs that was quite identical to the one described above. In a manner similar to Rosen’s class action, the lawsuit named more than 40 individuals and corporations as defendants. Among those named were Madonna, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone, and a number of other individuals.

Prior to this, in June 2022, the legal firm Scott+Scott initiated a class-action lawsuit against Yuga Labs, alleging that the company “inappropriately encouraged” the community to purchase BAYC NFTs and ApeCoin. The litigation was launched against Yuga Labs.

In addition, Yuga Labs, which has its headquarters in Miami, has been embroiled in a number of legal battles involving trademark and copyright controversies. Yuga Labs said in their complaint that the defendant, artist Ryder Ripps, had misappropriated Yuga Labs’ trademarks to advertise his own NFT collection. The complaint was filed in June and was submitted to a court in Los Angeles. In a later court filing, it was argued that Yuga Labs did not have the appropriate copyright registration for BAYC.

According to the filing, “Yuga Labs does not have a registered copyright, and as a result, there is no immediate prospect of a lawsuit for copyright infringement.”

In spite of the many challenges it has been encountering, Yuga Labs has been working to broaden the scope of its NFT ecosystem. The new Dookey Dash game was released by Yuga Labs on January 18. It is a skill-based minting experience that allows BAYC investors to claim free tokens in order to compete for the best score and gain additional rewards.