No means no. Although Hermès has won a legal victory against the MetaBirkins collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), it intends to go further. It believes that the creator of the collection is continuing to enrich itself at the expense of its luxury brand
Hermès and the MetaBirkins NFTs case
The affair began just over a year ago, in December 2021. Hermès was warning Mason Rothschild, the creator of the MetaBirkins, a collection of NFTs based on the brand’s iconic Birkin bags. The collection had generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for the designer.
The digital Birkin bag collection is still on the LooksRare platform
The case ended in a lawsuit against Mason Rothschild, who was ordered to pay $133,000 to the luxury brand. The collection disappeared from the NFTs OpenSea platform, and Hermes – along with other luxury brands – breathed a sigh of relief.
But that wasn’t enough for the French brand: Hermès has decided to continue with the lawsuit, as we just learned. The brand has just filed a request that Mason Rothschild be formally prevented from selling Birkin bags as NFTs in the future. Hermès is arguing that the designer should continue to promote his collection:
“Despite the fact that
Despite the verdict in favour of Hermès, Rothschild continues to promote sales of MetaBirkins NFTs via various social networks, and he will receive royalties for such sales. Rothschild’s past and present conduct shows that he is likely to continue to infringe the Hermes trademark. “
Art or no art?
Mason Rothschild was indeed vocal about his disagreement, believing that his collection should be considered art. This is the whole point of NFTs of this type. Art does indeed commonly use existing elements or works in order to make a social commentary. But when these existing elements are the intellectual property of such a brand, where does the right to art end and the theft of intellectual property begin?
That is the question. At this stage, no MetaBirkin NFTs have been sold since last December, and Mason Rothschild has not promoted the collection directly on social media, although he has been particularly firm about his position on the status of NFTs.
The debate is therefore far from over in the non-fungible token sector, and it is likely that precedents of this type will accumulate. Whether a work of art is a work of art or a shameless copy is a debate that has existed since the dawn of time: NFTs are simply tackling the issue from a new technological angle.
