This week, a jury ruled in favor of French luxury brand Hermès in its lawsuit against NFT artist Mason Rothschild over his MetaBirkins NFT collection.
The jury found that Rothschild did profit off of Hermès’ goodwill by creating NFTs based on the design house’s Birkin bags, and awarded $133,000 in damages to the brand.
The verdict also determined that the NFTs were not protected under the First Amendment, as Rothschild’s lawyers had argued.
This case sets a significant precedent for NFT creators and helps establish the framework for IP law as it relates to digital creations.
According to David Leichtman, Managing Partner at Leichtman Law, the case was not about Rothschild’s use of the protected Birkin brand, but rather about whether he intended to mislead consumers into believing the MetaBirkins NFTs were associated with Hermès’ Birkin product.
Hermès filed the lawsuit against Rothschild in January 2022, after he released the MetaBirkins NFT collection, claiming that he was “stealing the goodwill in Hermès’ famous intellectual property to create and sell his own line of products,” which could lead to confusion among its consumer base.
