Seth Green’s Bored Ape NFT was stolen

Actor Seth Green, famous for his role as Scott Evil in the Austin Powers franchise, has had his Bored Ape NFT stolen. This happened amid plans for the NFT and associated intellectual property to feature in a new animated television series that Green was involved in.

The NFT was swiped as part of a phishing scam and was taken from his wallet when he unknowingly interacted with the fraudster’s website. The Bored Ape was then on-sold by the scammer to a pseudonymous collector known as DarkWing84. Green has been pleading on Twitter with DarkWing84 to return his Bored Ape and, in addition to the theft, this has the potential to scuttle the entire animated TV series.

The copyright and intellectual property rights associated with NFTs are murky legal territory. With courts globally yet to properly grapple with what purchases of an NFT have by way IP.

Green looks ready to litigate the issue if DarkWing84 doesn’t negotiate. He tweeted,

“A buyer who purchased stolen art with real money and refuses to return it is not legally entitled to exploitation usage of the underlying IP. It’ll go to court, but I’d prefer to meet @DarkWing84 before that. Seems we’d have lots in common.”

Here is hoping the two can work it out and Green’s show can progress on.