A New York federal jury has ruled in favour of luxury fashion house, Hermès in the trademark infringement case against MetaBirikin NFT. Hermès sued Rothschild one year ago, alleging that the MetaBirkin NFTs violate the trademark rights of Hermès. OpenSea delisted MetaBirkins by Jan. 2022, shortly after Hermès sent Rothschild a cease and desist.
The artist who created the MetaBirkin non-fungible token inspired by the Hermes’ famous Birkin bag has been hit with a judgement against it for $133,000 USD in damages to be awarded to Hermès for trademark infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting. The jury found that artist Mason Rothschild unauthorized use of “MetaBirkin” were likely to confuse customers.
Rothschild’s attorney Rhett Millsaps called the result a “terrible day for artists and the First Amendment.”
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets authenticated using blockchain technology. NFTs depicting fashion items have sold millions in the past 2 years.
Hermes’ most…
coveted Birkin handbags sell for tens of thousands of dollars due to high demand and limited supply for the exclusive heritage brand. The luxury fashion house has sold over $1 billion worth of Birkins in the United States, including more than $100 million worth in the past ten years.
We reached out to legal experts and luxury online retailer of Hermès Birkin handbags, Madison Avenue Couture to get their opinions on the Hermès vs. MetaBirkin trademark case outcome.
“This is an important test case similar to those early cybersquatting decisions ruling in favor of trademark owners and against opportunistic, unauthorized trademark use by defendants attempting to leverage the Internet, or in this case, NFTs, to their advantage.
As such, it was correctly decided and should discourage similar such attempts in the future,” said William Scott Goldman, Managing Attorney/Founder of Goldman Law Group, PLLC. “I think the ruling is fair. Hermes most valuable asset is their brand, and they can’t afford for that brand to be tarnished by an NFT,” Taylor continued…
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