Crypto Punks v1 versus v2 legal battles in the offing

OpenSea has again backpedaled after withdrawing Crypto Punks v1 from its marketplace. This coincides with rumors that Larva Labs have issued a takedown Notice to OpenSea. According to Coin Telegraph,

“… was allegedly due to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice issued by CryptoPunks v2 developers Larva Labs to OpenSea.”

Background to crypto Punks

Crypto Punks is one of the most popular and valuable projects out there. But many noobs don’t realize that there are actually 2 sets of Crypto Punks: v1 and v2.

What makes it even more surreal, is that both sets of NFTs were minted by the same company, Larva Labs. Confused? Read on.

The project launched in 2017 with a total of 10,000 NFTs. However, dishonest owners were able to exploit a bug in the contract that allowed them to withdraw their Ethereum after buying the NFTs.

Once, Larva Labs noticed the theft they determined that the v1 NFTs were fakes. They then proceeded to launch the v2, one of the most successful NFT collections so far.

Nevertheless, this left 20,000 Crypto Punks in existence with the validity of 10,000 in question.

However, after OpenSea delisted the v1 NFTs, the whole thing was largely forgotten. This was even after, the v1 collection being wrapped as ERC-721 tokens to patch a bug in the contract.

The now

Fast forward to the launch of LooksRare and the subsequent listing of the Crypto Punks v1 NFT collection and things have taken on a new complexion. Once listed on LooksRare marketplace, OpenSea took the decision to relist the v1 collection. This is what prompted the issuing of the DMCA notice.

This has not quelled the dispute. According to Coin Telegraph, a message released on the Crypto Punks v1 Discord group states that the group have engaged a top American IP lawyer. He assured them that they are legally allowed to continue trading their v1 NFTs.

Is this just the beginning?

So, things are heating up around the NFT scene as that great American past time of, ‘sue the f**k out of anything and everything’ comes into play.

That is right, after last year’s meteoric rise in popularity and adoption of NFTs comes the inevitable next step, litigation. For sure, over the last year there has been a cadre of ‘ambulance chasers’ scouring the NFT marketplaces looking for any copyright infringements.

 No doubt, we will be seeing many more articles like this over the coming months.