Bored Ape Yacht Club founders forced to leave Yuga Labs project

The conflict between the developers of the most famous NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club and digital artist Ryder Ripps, who forged BAYC tokens, continues. According to a California federal court order, the founders of Yuga Labs must leave their positions and appear in court to testify.

The founders of Yuga Labs, Wiley Aronov and Greg Solano, are ordered to temporarily leave their positions «for contempt of court». The reason was their failure to attend the hearing and refusal to testify without a valid reason. As explained by the BAYC developers, they did not have time to file a timely motion to postpone the hearing. However, the court called this excuse groundless.

The ruling is a continuation of the litigation between Yuga Labs and NFT artist Ryder Ripps. Back in the summer, representatives of Yuga Labs filed a lawsuit against Ripps and several of his partners. The BAYC authors accused Ripps of producing and selling «pseudo-NFTs» that devalue the originals. Yuga Labs is seeking a court order prohibiting Ripps and his accomplices from «further interference with the company’s prospective economic relations,» as well as damages and attorneys' fees.

Interestingly, Ripps himself expects an apology from the company and $ 100 billion in compensation for the «moral suffering» caused by Yuga Labs to the NFT author. The artist has denied all of Yuga Labs' accusations, claiming that the company does not own the relevant copyrights and that the unique nature of irreplaceable tokens does not allow for the creation of copies.

The court has now called on the founders of Yuga Labs to agree on an alternative date for the testimony as soon as possible. Otherwise, Yuga Labs will be responsible for paying any costs associated with the court hearings that did not take place.