Early last year, rapper Lil Yachty filed a lawsuit against the NFT platform Opulous, claiming the company infringed on his trademark. The artist claimed the company “did not have authorization” to use his name and likeness to make a profit.
Earlier this week, Rolling Stone reported, the lawsuit was settled.
The paperwork filed against Opulous alleged that while using the business name of Ditto Music, the company used the rapper’s name, image, and likeness to mislead people into thinking it had a partnership with Lil Yachty. In doing so, it raised more than $6.5 million in venture capital funds.
Financial terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
According to the court documents the settlement agreement was submitted April 11 by the founder of the Singapore-based company, Lee James Parsons. The parties involved in the litigation have requested to be given 45 days “to confirm the settlement in writing and file a dismissal of the action.”
When the lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles federal court in January 2022, attorneys for the rapper, whose real name is Miles Parks McCollum, stated Opulous launched an advertising blitz the previous summer to promote a “Lil Yachty NFT Collection.” The company claimed it would give consumers access to new music from Lil Yachty, using pictures of him and press interviews to promote the project.
Lawyers for the recording artist said, “Defendants knew that they did not have authorization to utilize plaintiff’s name, trademark or image… yet did so anyways because [it] was beneficial to Defendants’ commercial enterprise, in blatant and conscious disregard for plaintiff’s exclusive legal rights.”
Lil Yachty said Opulous pitched the project to his management team, and he joined in on a second call to do “a general introductory meeting,” but no agreement was signed between the two parties.
In the lawsuit, the company had been sued for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and a violation of Lil Yachty’s right of publicity—the right to control how your name and likeness are commercially exploited.