- 🧩 Lookzy
- Posts
- 🧩 Bored Ape Law Suit
🧩 Bored Ape Law Suit
Also, the Suns sell for $4 billion
Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all.
Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:
Insight on the Bored Ape Yacht Club suit
Wells Fargo's record billion-dollar fine
Antitrust, antitrust, antitrust
The Suns sell for $4 billion
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe below.
BORED APE LAW SUIT
Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs is no stranger to lawyers. They've raised a $450 million 'seed' round, are fighting a proposed class action about inappropriately "inducing" investors to buy NFTs, and are reportedly being investigated by the SEC for securities law violations related to ApeCoin, their token.
In their latest legal battle, Yuga Labs is the one in the driver seat. Earlier this summer, Yuga Labs had filed a trademark infringement suit against Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, two artists who allegedly sold unauthorized copycat NFTs using the same images as the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.
Yuga Labs' position was strengthened on Friday when US District Judge John F. Walter in CA denied Ripps' and Cahen's motion to dismiss. Judge Walter noted that the Rogers test, a test for protecting free speech, should not apply in this case given that the copycat NFTs “do not express an idea or point of view,” instead pointing to the same BAYC images, and additionally noting that the alleged infringements weren't artistically relevant.
Yuga Labs' case now moves forward. Fenwick is representing Yuga Labs and WilmerHale is representing Ripps and Cahen.
ECON SNAPSHOT
The difference between special bonuses and layoffs.
THE VERDICT
Arguing today's litigation news
WF hit again. Wells Fargo received its largest fine since its 2020 settlement with the DOJ, settling with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for $3.7 billion to resolve allegations it illegally assessed interest charges and fees on car and home loans.
Antitrust. Amazon settled with the EU on three antitrust probes, agreeing to make certain core changes such as more prominently highlighting non-Amazon sellers when those prices are lower, allowing sellers to use their own logistics and delivery services, and agreeing not to use sellers' data in creating its own white label products. Amazon avoided paying a fine that could have been up to 10% of Amazon's 'global turnover' by agreeing to make these changes and subjecting itself to EU monitoring.
Antitrust antitrust. The European Commission decided to expand the scope of its antitrust review of Broadcom Inc.'s $61 billion acquisition of VMware Inc. The Commission now has 90 working days to make a decision.
Antitrust antitrust antitrust. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand yesterday in a hearing related to the FTC's attempt to block Meta's acquisition of Within Unlimited, the VR maker. Although the FTC's lawyer impeached Zuckerberg on some more trivial past statements, there were no major moments from Zuckerberg's testimony. Meta disclosed that it will need to delay closing of its acquisition of Within Unlimited by one month or until the first day after the court rules on this matter.
THE DEAL
Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news
NBA M&A. Mat Ishbia, a mortgage-lending billionaire, has agreed to purchase the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury for a record $4 billion. This comes as an update to the our prior reporting of a group of VCs making a $3 billion offer.
Go big! Activist investor Land & Buildings accumulated a 3% stake in Six Flags and is now pressuring the theme park company to sell or spin off its real estate to help reverse the stock's price decline.
Artificial growth. The WSJ highlighted the fate of Palantir's usual growth strategy. In 2021, Palantir invested $400 million into 20 companies all listing via SPAC, tying such investments to revenue-producing software deals, which boosted Palantir's growth rate. This year, the outcome of that strategy has become clear; Palantir's shares are down more than 80%, most of those companies have issued "going concern" warnings and one company has gone bankrupt.
Bitcoin miners. Core Scientific, one of the largest Bitcoin miners, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but expects to continue to mine Bitcoin. Just last week, one of Core Scientific's biggest lenders published an open letter laying out a $72 million restructuring plan for the miner to avoid bankruptcy. In other Bitcoin miner news, Greenidge announced it may seek bankruptcy protection while it enters into debt restructuring negotiations with its lender NYDIG.
PE debt. The FT profiled the use and growth of debt, in various forms, in the private equity model as the economy slows growing hinting at systemic risks.
BUSINESS OF THE FIRM
Lateral Moves:
Industry News:
Still waiting for your bonus? Check out the Lookzy Reverse Bonus Tracker for timely updates to who's announced and who's left. Did your firm just announce? Reply to this email and we can update.
BOILERPLATE
Enjoy this newsletter? We'd be grateful if you forward it to a friend or colleague.Hate this newsletter? Share this newsletter with the partner/senior associate/staffer you can't stand.
Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!
