Lil Yachty Settles Lawsuit Against NFT Platform, Opulous Who Used Rapper’s Name to Raise Millions

Early last year, rapper Lil Yachty filed a lawsuit against the NFT platform, Opulous, claiming that the company infringed on his trademark. The artist claimed that the company “did not have authorization” to use his name and likeness to make a profit. Earlier this week, Rolling Stone reported that the lawsuit was recently 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 they had a partnership with Lil Yachty. In doing so, they were able to raise more than $6.5 million in venture capital funds.
No financial terms of the settlement were disclosed.
Court documents reveal that the settlement agreement was submitted on 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 that Opulous launched an advertising blitz the previous summer to promote a “Lil Yachty NFT Collection.” The company claimed that it would give consumers access to new music from Lil Yachty as they promoted pictures of him and did press interviews about his involvement in the project.
Lawyers for the recording artist stated, “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 says that Opulous pitched the project to his management team, and he joined in on a second call to do “a general introductory meeting,” but there was no agreement 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.