Hermès wins trademark lawsuit against creator of ‘metabirkin’ NFTs

Hermès defeats ‘MetaBirkins’ in court case

On February 8, 2023, French luxury house Hermès won a lawsuit against Mason Rothschild, the creator of the furry ‘MetaBirkins’ NFTs. After a five-day trial, a jury in a Manhattan federal court concluded that the sale of non-fungible tokens infringed Hermès’ trademark rights in what appears to be the first-ever lawsuit to address intellectual property infringement by NFTs.

The legal battle between the two parties began in December 2021, then the French luxury giant sent a cease-and-desist letter to Rothschild, after which the MetaBirkins were removed from the OpenSea digital marketplace where they had previously been sold. In January 2022, Hermès filed a trademark against the digital artist. “I hope Hermès understands that I don’t want to be intimidated,” Rothschild had written in an Instagram post announcing the trademark lawsuit.

for @thuggerthugger1 | all photos via @metabirkins

the first ever court case to address NFTs and intellectual property rights

Throughout the lawsuit, Mason Rothschild argued that his NFTs were works of art protected by the First Amendment, not unlike Andy Warhol’s acclaimed Campbell’s Soup Cans, according to The Bloomberg Act. The online platform also reports that the jury ruled that Rothschild infringed on the trademark of Hermès’ Birkin bags and that his NFTs did not constitute protected expression. The famous luxury group was thus awarded $133,000 in damages.

“I put on big boy pants for the last couple of weeks. Things didn’t shake me out, but the battle is far from over. I pride myself on being early on things, including web3, and sometimes it comes with growing pains like these. It’s early. Most people don’t understand what this is, but that doesn’t mean they never will. It is my duty and the duty of other creators in this room to show them. We keep it moving. Thanks to my team at Lex Lumina PLLC and Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP for sharing the trenches with me. Knocked down. Not dead.’ the digital artist shared his personal Instagram account after the verdict. Meanwhile, Hermès has yet to issue an official statement on the situation.

Bloomberg Law notes that this lawsuit was the first to address how non-fungible tokens should be examined from an intellectual property perspective. The case, which has been closely followed by legal experts worldwide, could influence future NFT cases that blur the line between art and consumer products.

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