SNEAK PEEK
- Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Kennel Club’s official logo has an unlicensed design since the original image belongs to Easy Drawing Tutorial, a firm that teaches drawing tutorials for both children and beginners.
- BAYC supporters think that no IP was breached though others believe that the company behind the real design deserves compensation.
- Previously, a founder of RR/BAYC collection also filed an opposition notice against Yuga Labs on the grounds of 10 trademark applications.
NFT streets are buzzing with news that Bored Ape Kennel Club‘s logo was used without seeking permission from its original artist. The matter was noticed by an eagle-eyed Twitter user, after which the similarity was confirmed by Easy Drawing Tutorial, the real creator of the image, and Greg Solano, co-founder of Yuga Labs.
Bro @BoredApeYC @yugalabs what a fucking joke bahahahahaha you got some explaining to do. 4/5/21 and your kennels came out 6/21 and you went and trademarked this skull. Are you guys ok or have you bumped your heads? https://t.co/HiLFdbnFL5 pic.twitter.com/FJigzJgBr8
— COLOMBO (@Jdotcolombo) February 17, 2023
The Bored Ape Kennel Club was launched in June 2021, and its logo was trademarked. However, the Twitter account of Easy Drawing Tutorial shared an image of an almost identical wolf skull three months later, in April 2021.
A resource that offers step-by-step guidelines to create cartoon-based drawings of objects and animals, Easy Drawing Tutorial, forbids the commercial utilization of its proprietary content.
A freelancer was hired by Yuga Labs to create the design of the logo. The firm has now reached the freelancer as well as Easy Drawing Tutorials owing to the investigation regarding the intellectual property’s violation.
The logo will be both removed and replaced on BAKC’s website. The same will happen in the marketplaces too.
Saw the claims today about the BAKC logo. This was news to us and we're still investigating the situation. Have reached out to the freelancer we hired for that design and Easy Drawing Guides. We’ll be changing the logo and updating it on our site / ask marketplaces to change as… https://t.co/OwtflDXehz
— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) (@CryptoGarga) February 18, 2023
BAKC was launched for free to all wallets that held a Bored Ape, and the collection’s goal has always been to raise money for charity. More than $1 million was raised for animal charities.
The project’s website mentions donating a 2.5% royalty fee on secondary sales from the initial six weeks only. This means that Yuga Labs has been making profits from the collection since August 2021.
The project’s market cap is close to $115 million, which makes it one of the multiple collections by Yuga Labs. According to a pitch deck that was leaked in November, in 2021, the firm earned a net revenue of $127 million, and in 2022, it earned a net revenue of $455 million.
