‘Caked Ape’ NFT Artist Mostly Advances Suit Against Ex-Partners

Digital artist Taylor Whitley advanced most of his wide-ranging lawsuit against his former colleagues with whom he created “Caked Ape” nonfungible tokens—digital assets depicting colorful cartoon monkeys.

Whitley claimed that he originally conceived of the Caked Apes project, which is a spinoff the successful Bored Apes NFTs, but his former partners cut him out of his revenue share.

US District Judge Otis D. Wright allowed six of Whitley’s legal claims to advance, including intentional misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and defamation. Wright dismissed Whitley’s other claims, which included copyright infringement, but allowed him to amend them and file again.

The ...