Hermès wins another legal battel. The US district judge Jed Rakoff banned the sale of MetaBirkins, recognizing that NFTs created by Mason Rothschild could confuse consumers and damage the French brand. Even if the judge sided with the brand, the digital artist is still able to appeal.
No more MetaBirkins
“As the jury decided, Rothschild as a self-defined marketing strategist, looked to confuse consumers on purpose – states the sentence according to Market Insider -. He tried to make it seem that his NFTs, labelled MetaBirkins, were affiliated with the iconic Hermès’ handbags”. Simply put, the court recognized the digital artist as a “counterfeiter”. The judge thus stated the MetaBirkins aren’t art and thus cannot be protected by the first amendment of the US constitution.
The story
Mason Rothschild had decided in 2021 to create a collection of NFTs inspired by the Birkin handbag. Then he put the collection up for sale in December of next year, making over 1 million USD. In January 2022, Hermès filed a lawsuit against him (born Sonny Estival), in an event that was carefully watched by the fashion industry. It’s outcome would have established the borders of the Metaverse. In February, the jury voted in favor of Hermès, assigning the luxury brand 133,000 USD in damages. The following month the brand said that, even after the verdict, Rothschild was continuing selling its NFTs. Thus, Hermès went once again to the courts to stop him and obtained the desire outcome a few days later. Will there be an appeal?
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