The iconic wolf skull logo of Yuga Labs’ premier non-fungible token (NFT) series, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), was allegedly illegally registered as a trademark without proper licensing. This image was originally posted by a company that specializes in drawing tutorials for kids and beginners.
NFTs were introduced into the world to help solve the problem of illicit use of intellectual property and protect artists which is exactly what Yuga Labs has been accused of doing. Crypto Twitter member and NFT artist @Jdotcolombo saw a post on Apr 5, 2021 in which Easy Drawing Guides promoted an "easy step-by-step drawing tutorial" for a wolf skull.
The artwork displayed by the company closely resembled BAYC's official logo, which initially raised suspicions of wrongdoing given that BAYC's Kennel Club Collection was launched on June 17, 2021. Easy Drawing Guides responded to the uproar, confirming that Yuga Labs did not have permission to use the wolf skull illustration. Taking it a step further, Yuga Labs registered the unlicensed logo as its own trademark. In response, Easy Drawing Guides stated:“The intellectual property rights for the drawing belong to Easy Drawing Guides as it’s our original drawing and protected by our Terms and Conditions.”
According to Cointelegraph: The Easy Drawing Guides Terms and Conditions grant a non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable limited license to use and access the site for personal, non-commercial use only.
On the one hand, BAYC supporters argue that use of the logo does not infringe intellectual property rights; however, most agree that Easy Drawing Guides are entitled to some substantial compensation.
Intellectual property woes are nothing new for Yuga Labs. RR/BAYC, one of the founders of BAYC's knockoff NFT series, filed notices of opposition against 10 of Yuga Labs' trademark applications.
In the notice, RR/BAYC co-founder Jeremy Cahen highlighted a list of "reasons for objection" to the Yuga Labs filing, claiming that due to the BAYC NFT sale conferring "all rights," the company "waived" rights to certain logos and art. owner of digital images of any rights to the design of the product".
