Judge grants Hermès request to halt all ‘MetaBirkin’ NFT sales

French luxury fashion brand Hermès International wins another infringement lawsuit against artist Mason Rothschild after Manhattan judge orders permanent injunction against all ‘Metabarkin’ non-fungible token sales I got

Hermès originally filed a petition with the Southern District of New York City in March to block all sales of Metabagin NFTs.

Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jed Lakoff officially appointed accept He questioned Rothschild’s ongoing marketing of the project, but expressed skepticism about Rothschild’s defense of the Hermès lawsuit, leading to the June 23 request. .

”[The] Defendant’s entire plan here was to use variations of the Hermès trademark to trick consumers into believing that Hermès was endorsing his lucrative Metabarkins NFT,” Justice Rakov said. added like

“There is nothing in the First Amendment that exempts liability for such plans.”

The MetaBirkin collection consists of 100 NFT artworks depicting furry Birkin-style handbags, and Rothschild reportedly generated over $1 million in sales from the project.

Metabirkin 78 sold for 2.3 Ether (around $4,000) @wyaricky upon fluffy! pic.twitter.com/8RPLUkg8WY

— MetaBirkins (@MetaBirkins) September 12, 2022

The legal dispute began in January after Hermès accused Rothschild’s NFT collection of improperly using the Birkin trademark to trick customers into believing the brand was backing the project.

In February, a court, following a nine-member jury verdict, ruled that Rothschild had violated Hermès’ trademark and ordered the artist to pay $133,000 in damages.

Rothschild wanted his project to be protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. claimed to be an expression.

Now take nine people off the streets and ask them to tell you what art is, but the bottom line is that whatever they say becomes the undisputed truth. That’s what happened today.

The multi-billion dollar luxury fashion house says it “cherishes” art and artists…

— Mason Rothschild (@MasonRothschild) February 8, 2023

The artist further claimed that it had provided a disclaimer explaining that it had nothing to do with Hermès, clearly misleading consumers.

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However, the use of the word “Birkins” was controversial, and the judge and jury also disputed this.

“The jury found that his decision to use the Hermès trademark in the name and design of the Metabarkins NFT, as well as his marketing and sales techniques, were clearly misleading and rejected his disclaimer defense. dismissed,” the court documents read.

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