Legal
Is It Metaverse Art or Birkin Ripoff? A US Jury Will Decide
- Hermès and Mason Rothschild face off in New York NFT Trial
- Rothschild claims First Amendment protects his creations
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Trademark infringement fights have extended to the metaverse — with luxury brand Hermès of Paris Inc. battling digital artist Mason Rothschild in court over the creation and sale of nonfungible tokens that depict images resembling its hard-to-get Birkin bags.
A trial over the alleged infringement of Hermès’ intellectual property began in Manhattan federal court this week, with the multibillion-dollar corporation claiming the name of the NFTs — MetaBirkin — misled consumers into incorrectly believing they were affiliated with Hermès.