A US jury finds an artist violated Hermès' rights to the Birkin trademark in 2021 by creating and selling MetaBirkin 100 NFTs depicting versions of the handbags
Bloomberg Law :
Bloomberg Law
Context & Ripple Effects
Hermès had already taken its fight over the artist’s 100-token collection to New York, as covered in the run-up to the MetaBirkins case. The jury verdict gives that brand-enforcement effort a concrete result rather than leaving the dispute at the complaint stage.
The decision sits alongside a later ruling that the RR/BAYC NFT project infringed Yuga Labs’ copyright, reinforcing that NFT packaging does not by itself insulate works built around another party’s protected brand or creative material.
First-order effects
Hermès gains a jury finding that the artist’s MetaBirkin NFTs violated its Birkin trademark rights, strengthening its position against this use of the brand.
The artist’s sale of the 100-token MetaBirkin collection is now judicially characterized as trademark infringement rather than protected use of a handbag reference.
Second-order effects
NFT artists and marketplaces face a clearer enforcement risk when collections use recognizable luxury branding, particularly after the related RR/BAYC infringement ruling reached a similar result for a different IP right.
Brand owners have added support for treating NFT collections as a trademark-enforcement channel, rather than as a separate digital market outside conventional brand controls.
Third-order effects
If such rulings continue across trademark and copyright disputes, access to recognizable brands and cultural properties in NFT markets will increasingly depend on rights-holder permission or defensible transformative use.
The broader effect is a more rights-governed digital-collectibles market, where legal clearance becomes part of market access for creators and platforms.
The trend: NFTs are being brought under established intellectual-property enforcement as courts assess tokenized works by their underlying use of protected brands and content.
Hermès was awarded $133,000 in damages - less than a ⅓ of the cost of the highest selling Birkin bag and twice the cost of a pair of ‘Birkinstocks’ https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ ...
Mason Rothschild's loss may have a chilling effect on NFT artists who want to use trademarks in their projects, according to an intellectual property attorney and artist. https://blawgo.com/fy3pcbi
Hermes has prevailed over MetaBirkins in the first NFT IP trial. The jury determined that the NFTs connected to images of modified Birkin handbags are more akin to consumer products subject to strict trademark laws rather than pieces of art. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ ...
Today, a nine-person jury found that Mason Rothschild's “MetaBirkin” NFTs “aren't protected speech under the First Amendment.” Per @bloomberglaw, “Rothschild's loss may have a chilling effect on NFT artists who want to use trademarks in their projects.” https://news.bloomberglaw.…
.@Hermes_Paris won its lawsuit against the digital artist behind “MetaBirkin” NFTs. The SDNY trial was the first ever to examine how NFTs should be viewed through IP law, reports @BLaw's @IsaiahPoritz. Read more below. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ ...
With the Jack Daniels case going to the Supreme Court, I am for one happy that blatant infringement through a new medium is not afforded protection under the First Amendment Rogers v. Grimaldi test #metaverse #NFT #trademarks #intellectualproperty https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ .…
Monumental decision. @Hermes_Paris won its lawsuit against the digital artist behind “MetaBirkin” #nft after convincing a Manhattan federal jury that Mason Rothschild's sale of the NFTs violated Hermès' rights to the “Birkin” trademark @unstoppableweb https://news.bloomberglaw.co…