Who would have thought a company that specializes in issuing unique digital works would be operating with an unauthorized logo? That’s the predicament Yuga Labs found itself in recently after using an unlicensed emblem for its Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC)
The revelation occurred on February 17, when keen Twitter user, COLOMBO, spotted the resemblance between the logo and the original drawing. The likeness was acknowledged by both the image’s original creator, Easy Drawing Tutorial, and Greg Solano, the Yuga Labs co-founder.
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
It turns out the wolf skull image was created by Easy Drawing Guides almost three months before Yuga Labs launched the BAKC collection. The resource teaches non-artists how to create awesome cartoonish drawings of various animals and objects. Easy Drawing Guides’ terms and conditions explicitly prohibit anyone from commercializing its proprietary content.
That said, the wolf skull image was created towards the start of April 2021, while Yuga Labs’ BAKC collection launched in the third week of June 2021.
Yuga Labs Outsourced Their Logo Design To A Freelancer
According to Solano, the company hired a freelancer to design the logo, but they never did any background checks. Since the matter came to public attention, the cofounder notes that they have already contacted the freelancer in question and Easy Drawing Tutorials as part of the investigation. He goes on to add that the logo would be removed and replaced on the BAKC website, plus the parent company will ask marketplaces to do the same.
The BAKC collection was airdropped to any wallet that held Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs. Solano notes that the intention was not to profit from the project but to raise money for charity. Thus, they had managed to raise over $1 million for animal charities. However, according to the project’s website, only the royalty fees from secondary sales collected in the first six weeks after creation would be donated. Meaning Yuga Labs has been profiting off the collection since August 2021. The collection is currently worth over $115 million in market capitalization.
Learn how to draw the wolf skull >> Here
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Image credit via: Easy Drawing Guides
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