On July 23, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued a pivotal decision regarding digital art, blockchain technology, and trademark law. The ruling not only clarifies that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are protectable “goods” under federal trademark law, but also sets important standards for how courts should analyze consumer confusion, fair use, and First Amendment protections surrounding artistic expression in the rapidly evolving NFT marketplace.
Di’Vennci K. Lucas
Image from court documents
On July 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Yuga Labs Inc. v. Ripps, No. 24-879, 2025 WL 2056060 (9th Cir. 2025), issued a pivotal decision regarding digital art, blockchain technology, and trademark law.
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Most firms are aiming their newest tools at the work they already do — pouring their most powerful technology into running the same tasks a little faster. But when everyone automates the same tasks at once, no one pulls ahead. That reaches the future a little faster while leaving a firm’s largest opportunity untouched — and that opportunity isn’t doing more of the existing work, but transforming how the high-value work gets done.
AI is becoming both an accelerant and a distraction for cybersecurity. In many respects, AI is acting as a stress test for existing security operations by exposing how difficult many organizations still find it to enforce basic controls consistently at scale.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly embedding itself into legal workflows, but much of the conversation treats all use cases as if they carry the same level of risk, even if they do not. The more useful question is not whether AI works, but where it can be safely applied and where it cannot.
AI-savvy lawyering is already something that clients are starting to demand. The technology is capable; the challenge now is cultural and organizational change.
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