Yuga Labs demanded the court to punish the artist Ryder Ripps for destroying private keys
Yuga Labs has demanded that the court bring to justice the artist Ryder Ripps, who created an alternative collection of BAYC tokens, for the deliberate destruction of private keys from his wallet.
Yuga Labs claims that the artist Ryder Ripps intentionally destroyed the private keys to the addresses where the Ryder Ripps BAYC (RR/BAYC) collectible tokens are stored in order to prevent the enforcement of the injunction. Earlier, Yuga Labs accused the artist and his partner Jeremy Cahen of faking the "bored monkeys" of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). In February 2024, the California District Court issued a final ruling in favor of Yuga Labs, ordering Ripps to burn all remaining NFT RR/BAYC or hand them over to Yuga for destruction within two weeks.
However, the defendants asked the court to reject Yuga Labs' application for sanctions. Ripps' defense claims that he fully complied with the court order, with the exception of orders to destroy or transfer RR/BAYC tokens. On February 21, Ripps announced that he had destroyed these private keys back in December last year. The artist explained his actions by saying that he wanted to prevent any unintended use of the wallet. However, this may be regarded as a violation of the injunction.
"Given that Ripps maliciously destroyed the private keys, he tried to mislead justice. Therefore, the court should exercise its powers and hold Ripps accountable for neglecting the ruling. The usual deletion of private keys only means that Ripps will no longer be able to access tokens that violate copyrights. It turns out that he still owns these NFTs, and they are connected to him," Yuga Labs said in the lawsuit.
The company added that Ripps can restore access to his NFTs if he has physical or digital backups of the keys. Yuga Labs also questioned Ripps' words, claiming that he continued to use one or more addresses associated with RR/BAYC after the October injunction.
