After accusations of image theft and copyright infringement from a drawing company, Easy Drawing Guides, the creator of Yuga Labs, Greg Solano declared on February 18 that he would alter the Bored Ape Kennel Club's logo.
The day before, Easy Drawing Guides claimed that Yuga Labs had utilized their exact "wolf skull" artwork for commercial reasons by replicating it.
Without the artist's permission or license, the NFT Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) collection logo of Yuga Labs has been utilized.
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
In June 2021, Yuga Laboratories introduced the BAKC line, and in November of that same year, it patented its logo. But, three months earlier, in April 2021, the official Easy Drawing Tutorial Twitter published a picture of an almost identical wolf skull.
Solano claims that this project used a freelancer to design the logo, and Yuga Labs got in touch with both the aforementioned freelancer and the Easy Drawing Tutorials as part of the project's investigation into an alleged violation of intellectual property rights.
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
Moreover, Solano stated that the project's website would have the old logo altered, and Yuga Labs would like the marketplaces to do the same.
Any wallet holding a Bored Ape can access the Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT Collection. More than $1 million has been raised for animal charities since "the collection was made to raise money for charity from the very beginning."
Yet, Yuga Labs has already experienced a plagiarism problem before. Ryder Ripps and content producers are still at odds over his decision to create BAYC for the RR/BAYC collection without seeking their consent. Perhaps before, Ryder Ripps criticized the wildly popular BAYC line for being racist and supporting Nazism.