LOS ANGELES, CA, September 22, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In 2021, digital artist Danny Casale, known as Coolman Coffeedan, launched the Coolman's Universe NFT collection. The 10,000 unique works of art sold out in minutes and, to date, the collection's total volume in trade exceeds $60 million.
DigiART LLC, an NFT fine art platform co-founded by Robert Earl, sued Casale in 2022, claiming that Danny breached his agreement to create NFTs exclusively for DigiART and that they were entitled to 50% of the proceeds from the Coolman's Universe NFT collection.
On September 15, 2023, the US District Court, Middle District of Florida, found that no agreement existed between Casale and DigiART and dismissed DigiART's lawsuit. The Court similarly noted that DigiART proffered no evidence to show that it had any involvement in the Coolman's Universe NFT collection.
"This lawsuit never should have been filed" commented Casale's attorney, Jordan Susman of Nolan Heimann LLP. "DigiART had no agreement with Danny and had no involvement in his successful NFT collection. Instead of being able to celebrate his accomplishment, Danny has spent the past year fighting a lawsuit and watching DigiART take credit for his work. The court's ruling vindicates Danny as both a businessman and as an artist."
Casale, who was named as one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2020, first went viral in June of 2017 when his cartoon titled "Snakes Have Legs" accumulated tens of millions of views. Since then, he has continued to create content using his unique style of combining crudely drawn characters and brightly colored backgrounds with messages of positivity, hope, and self-acceptance. In 2021, Casale published the book Ur Special: Advice for Humans from Coolman Coffeedan.
"This whole thing was weird," said Casale about the lawsuit. "I hope this case can help prevent other creatives from experiencing similar greed. Artists work their entire lives to see any form of success and for a false complaint to be filed demanding a piece of that is so surreal to me. Oh well... back to work!"
This is not the only occasion where one of Robert Earl's companies has sued a digital creator. Last month, the Earl company Virtual Dining Concepts sued YouTuber MrBeast for breach of contract.
# # #