Hermès International, the French luxury fashion house, has asked a Manhattan federal court to prevent artist Mason Rothschild from trading or owning his "MetaBirkin" non-fungible tokens (NFTs) after a recent jury decision finding that Rothschild had infringed Hermes trademark rights on its famous Birkin bagsas reported by Reuters.
French luxury house Hermes International has asked a federal judge to stop artist Mason Rothschild from promoting or owning his non-fungible "MetaBirkin" tokens after a jury found they violate Hermes' trademark rights on his famous bags. birkin. https://t.co/Qd5o7mTLN4 pic.twitter.com/Dn3QQ3NZdn
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) March 6, 2023
According to the Reuters report, Hermes' court filing on Friday indicated that Rothschild had continued to promote its NFTs even after a nine-member jury found Rothschild liable for trademark infringement, trademark dilution and "cybersquatting," awarding to Hermès $133,000 in damages. . In light of this, the luxury company has petitioned the court to order Rothschild to stop using the "Birkin" trademark and hand over the MetaBirkins website, the NFTs it still owns, and its profits from token sales since the Hermès trial.
Hermès' recent court filing revealed that Mason Rothschild still receives a 7.5% royalty on each sale of MetaBirkin NFT and has been promoting them on its website and social media accounts even after the verdict in February. Hermès also added that a permanent injunction was necessary to stop Rothschild's behaviour, as he "has shown that he cannot be trusted" and has made "repeated false statements" in business dealings and at trial.
Hermes shared:
Rothschild has continued to act as it has since November 2021, blatantly violating Hermès' intellectual property rights.
Rothschild's lawyer, Rhett Millsaps, declared Monday that the presentation was a "gross overreach by Hermes and an attempt to punish Mr. Rothschild because they don't like his art." Millsaps further added that they would oppose Hermès' motion this week.
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As Cointelegraph previously reported on Feb. 8, a jury trial in the Southern District of New York returned a verdict in the lawsuit between Hermès and MetaBirkins. The court found that artist Mason Rothschild had infringed the trademark protections of the Hermès brand. The 100 "Metabirkins" NFTs created by Rothschild were deemed not to constitute artistic commentary and therefore received no protection under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
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