Yuga Labs Faces Accusations of IP Theft Over Trademark of BAYC Wolf Cranium Emblem

Last updated: 2023/02/20 at 8:29 PM

By Staff 1 month ago

3 Min Read

Yuga Labs, The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creator, has discovered itself in the course of one other controversy. This time, the corporate has been accused of IP theft for allegedly illegally trademarking its BAKC wolf cranium emblem. Reportedly, Easy Drawing Tutorial, an organization specializing in drawing tutorials for kids, initially launched the emblem in April 2021.

Here’s all it’s essential to know in regards to the IP theft allegations in opposition to Yuga Labs:

Easy Drawing Tutorial’s authentic picture and BAKC’s emblem. Credit: COLOMBO/Twitter

Yuga Labs accused of IP theft: What occurred?

BAYC’s Bored Ape Kennel Club assortment, launched on June 17, 2021, contains a wolf cranium on its emblem. On November 15, 2021, Yuga Labs utilized to trademark the emblem. However, the emblem has a hanging resemblance to the wolf cranium drawing by Easy Drawing Tutorial. In reality, the corporate posted a picture of the drawing on Twitter, three months earlier than Yuga Labs launched BAKC.

The similarity was first noticed by the Twitter consumer, Colombo. Taking discover of the tweet, the drawing’s authentic creator, Easy Drawing Tutorial responded:

“Thanks for bringing this up @Jdotcolombo. @yugalabs doesn’t have a license to the wolf skull drawing. 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.”

Yuga Labs to alter the BAKC emblem

As Colombo’s tweet from February 17 began getting consideration, Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano launched a press release the next day. In a tweet, Solano mentioned that the claims have been “news” to the group. The group has additionally reached out to the freelancer who created the emblem, in addition to Easy Drawing Tutorial.

“We’ll be changing the logo and updating it on our site / ask marketplaces to change as well,” Solano added. “This collection was meant from the start to be about raising money for charity and I’m proud of the fact that BAKC raised over $1m for animal charities.”