NFTs were introduced to the world to help solve the illegal use of intellectual property and protect artists — the very thing Yuga Labs has been accused of doing.
YUGA Labs's leading personal collection of irreplaceable tokens (NFT), the iconic wolf bone logo of the uninteresting Ape Golf driving range (BAYC), is reported to have been illegally applied for registration without any approval. The picture was first published through a company that provides painting tutorials for novice children.
NFT was introduced into the universe to effectively solve the problem of illegally applying intellectual property rights to protect artists-which is what YUGA Labs is accused of doing. Crypto tweet VIP and NFT artist @ Jdotcolombo came across a post on April 5, 2021 in which Easy Drawing Gudes ran an advertising campaign for Wolf skulls, calling it a simple step-by-step painting tutorial.
The company's art exhibition is very similar to the official BAYC logo, taking into account the release of BAYC's Kennel Club collection on June 17, 2021, and the initial official website logo raised suspicions of wrongdoing.
The easy drawing guide answered the unrest and determined that Yuga Lab did not use the license for the portrait of the wolf skull. Yuga Lab went a step further by giving itself the registered trademark without permission. In this regard, Easy Drawing Gudes indicates that:
The intellectual property of this picture belongs to the easy painting Guide because it is our own original painting and is protected by our own terms and conditions.
Cointelegraph acknowledges that the relevant terms and conditions of the Yi Tu guidelines grant non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable, limited resource licenses only for non-commercial use and browsing the website.
On the one hand, supporters of BAYC feel that the use of this logo does not infringe intellectual property rights; however, most people allow that Easy Drawing Gudes is entitled to some serious compensation.
YUGA Labs didn't respond to Cointelegraph's request for comment.
The intellectual property dilemma is not uncommon for Yuga Labs. One of the founders of BAYC's imitation of NFT's personal collection RR/BAYC has submitted a notice to boycott 10 trademark registration applications of YUGA Labs.
In the briefing, RR/BAYC founder Jeremy Strauss-Kahn described a series of "reasons" for boycotting YUGA Labs, claiming that because BAYC NFT granted users "full control" of digital image processing, the company "chose to give up" some logo and handicraft design solutions.