In 2021, Hermès sent digital artist Mason Rothschild a cease-and-desist letter for infringement of fits federally-registered trademarks when he launched and sold his MetaBirkins NFT Collection, the first of which, was sold on popular NFT marketplace OpenSea, on December 3rd 2021 for a whopping USD42,000 (yep that’s more than 4x the retail price of an Hermès Birkin)!

The artist refused to pull all of his NFTs from the market and secondary NFT marketplaces, and followed up with an Instagram post exclaiming that he did no wrong because and quoted the First Amendment saying that he has every right to create art based on interpretations of the world around him, citing examples such as Warhol’s portrayal of Campbell Soup cans as social commentary. He also insisted that his MetaBirkins NFTs are a tribute to the famed luxury fashion giant.

Hermès then filed a lawsuit against him in the New York Federal Court on January 14 2022, and sought monetary damages, including the profits he made selling these NFTs, and applied for an injunction that prevented Rothschild from using its trademarks.

Fast forward to present day, or well February 2023, the court ruled in favour of the luxury giant, and demanded that Rothschild stop his use of Birkin trademarks, to transfer the Metabirks website and and MetaBirkin NFTs he owns, as well as all income that he has earned from the sale of these NFTs, to Hermès.

Although the jury awarded Hermès USD133,000 in damages for trademark infringement and dilution, the jury also opined that the ways in which Rothschild used the Birkin, by covering it in fur in all sorts of garish motifs and colours, it is highly unlikely that this would confuse the luxury brand’s consumers as this isn’t something that Hermès would ever do.  Well time to grab your popcorn ladies and gents, because Rothschild was also granted leave to file an opening brief on the issue by March 3rd, and then Hermès will have until March 10th — which is basically in 1 day’s time – to respond.

Images via MetaBirkins Instagram