Yuga Labs Clears Confusion Surrounding BAYC Copyright & IP Rights!
Yuga Labs Clears Confusion Surrounding BAYC Copyright & IP Rights!
Yuga Labs Owns BAYC Copyright!
Earlier this week, the ongoing legal battle between Yuga Labs and artist Ryder Ripps had left many in the NFT community confused about the status of the copyright & ownership rights surrounding Yuga Labs’ most popular collection, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
However, in a recent new blog post, Yuga Labs aims to dispel rumours and confirm that they do indeed have the copyright for BAYC’s artwork.
We’ve seen some confusion around the IP license and commercial rights we grant to our NFT holders, so we asked copyright and IP lawyer @jeremyg2k to help clear things up. https://t.co/V2nF9svWmW
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) February 1, 2023
Related: BAYC Co-Founder Gordon Goner Steps Down, What’s Next For The Project?
The team had longtime copyright and IP lawyer Jeremy Goldman, who had previously worked closely with Yuga and other top NFT projects in the industry in the past, explain and clear up all legal misunderstandings surrounding Yuga Labs’ BAYC ownership rights in a blog post on Yuga Labs’ official site.
“Of course Yuga owns the copyright in their artwork,” Goldman wrote. He argues that it’s no question that BAYC has passed the requisite of copyrighting their work as BAYC’s artwork is sufficiently original and passes the “extremely low threshold” needed to copyright a piece of art.
Goldman also argues that BAYC also passes the copyright requirement of human authorship.
“The BAYC artwork was conceived not by generative AI, but by Yuga’s artists who, like all digital artists, used computer tools to help them.” Goldman continued, “Humans used their imagination and hands to conceptualize and develop the entire collection, design each individual base layer, trait, and accessory, arrange those elements to create the characters, and iterate repeatedly until they were satisfied with the finished product.”
Finally, Goldman also explains that as Yuga Labs is the rightful owner of BAYC artworks, holders have been granted full IP rights to use the artwork as they please, whether it be for personal use or commercial use.
“In sum, Yuga Labs owns the copyright in the digital artwork associated with BAYC NFTs and grants the holders of BAYC NFTs ownership of the digital artwork and a license to use the artwork for commercial and other purposes.” Goldman wrote.
Other BAYC News
Confusion about BAYC’s copyright and ownership rights were brought up due to the ongoing lawsuit between Yuga Labs and BAYC, a feud and legal battle that has lasted since Summer of 2022.
However, with so much going on in Yuga Labs this year, including the Otherside Metaverse’s second trip in March, along with BAYC co-founder Gordon Goner having just recently announced his decision to step down, it seems that Yuga Labs is willing to push through and quickly settle this lawsuit to leave it behind.
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