Judge Grants Hermès’ Request to Stop All ‘Metabirkin’ NFT Sales

French luxury fashion house Hermès International has scored another victory in its infringement case against artist Mason Rothschild, after a Manhattan judge ordered a permanent injunction on all “Metabirkin” non-fungible token sales.

Hermès initially submitted a request to the Southern District of New York in March to stop all sales of Metabirkin NFTs.

US District Judge Jed Rakoff, officially based in Manhattan given request on 23 June, as he took a skeptical stance on Rothschild’s defense against the Hermès lawsuit, questioning Rothschild’s continued marketing of the project.

“Defendants’ entire scheme here was to deceive consumers into believing that Hermes was endorsing its lucrative MetaBirkins NFTs, by using variations on Hermes’ trademarks,” Judge Rakoff said.

“Nothing in the First Amendment insulates him from liability for such a plan.”

The MetaBirkin collection is comprised of 100 NFT artworks depicting the beloved Birkin-style handbag, with Rothschild reportedly earning over $1 million in sales from the project.

Metabirkins 78 just sold for 2.3 Ether (≈$4,000) @wyaricky But @LooksRareNFT, pic.twitter.com/8RPLUkg8WY

— MetaBirkins (@MetaBirkins) 12 September 2022

The legal dispute began in January, when Hermès accused Rothschild’s NFT collection of improperly using its Birkin trademark and tricking customers into believing the brand was supporting the project.

In February, following a nine-member jury’s decision, the court ruled that Rothschild had infringed on the Hermès trademark, as well as ordering the artist to pay $133,000 in damages.

Rothschild argued that his project was an artistic expression protected by the First Amendment, in the same way that enabled Andy Warhol to legally create and sell Campbell’s soup cans art.

Pick nine people off the street right now and ask them to tell you what art is, but the shocker is that whatever they say will now become indisputable truth. Same thing happened today.

A billion dollar luxury fashion house that says they “care” about art and artists but..

— Mason Rothschild (@MasonRothschild) 8 February 2023

Additionally, the artist insisted that she had not clearly misled consumers, as she provided a disclaimer explaining that Hermès had no affiliation.

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However, the judge and jury also denied this, as the use of the word “Birkins” was questioned.

“The jury found that their decision to use Hermès’ trademarks in the name and design of the Metabirkins NFTs – and not just their marketing and sales techniques – was manifestly deceptive in itself, and rejected their disclaimer defense,” written in the court document.

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