The Ninth Circuit ruled that NFTs are not just digital collectibles but legally recognized goods under the Lanham Act. Yuga Labs, Inc. v. Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, Case No. 24-879 (9th Cir. July 23, 2025). NFTs are intangible, fully virtual, authenticating software code that is associated with separate digital or physical content. Although the Ninth Circuit found that there were genuine issues of material fact that precluded summary judgment on the issue of likelihood of confusion, the court recognized that NFTs are commercial products with tangible value subject to trademark protection. This means that NFT creators and projects can now claim trademark rights in their collections’ names, logos, and associated marks.Continue Reading 9th Circuit Marches Forward to the Future Finding Digital Assets Are Protected Under Trademark Law
First Insider Trading Conviction Against NFT Insider
On May 3, 2023, Nathaniel Chastain, the former product manager of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, was convicted by a federal jury in the Southern District of New York for what is being called the first insider trading conviction in the digital asset space. Continue Reading First Insider Trading Conviction Against NFT Insider
NFTs as Securities?
Many of those active in the non-fungible token (NFT) market have been nervously anticipating action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding whether or not they will categorize NFTs as securities and further regulate them. U.S. regulators have not yet definitely opined on whether NFTs in general are securities. However, a recent ruling, Friel v. Dapper Labs Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 21-05837, may have set the stage for some much-needed clarity with respect to the legal characterization of NFTs.Continue Reading NFTs as Securities?
Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash and Turns Up Heat on Mixers
On August 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) sanctioned virtual currency mixing service Tornado Cash, which OFAC said has been used to launder billions of dollars in virtual currency, including $455 million stolen by the Lazarus Group, a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”) state-sponsored hacking group…