A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against NFT maker Mason Rothschild, prohibiting him from selling digital art collectibles fashioned after Hermes’ iconic Birkin bags. Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York doubled down on a jury’s findings that Rothschild had attempted to mislead consumers about his digital art pieces’ connection to Hermes’ luxury bags. As the jury expressly found, Rothschild, a self-described ‘marketing strategist,’ purposely sought (with some success) to confuse consumers into believing that his non-fungible tokens (‘NFTs’), labeled ‘MetaBirkins…’ were affiliated with Hermès’ iconic ‘Birkin’ trademarks, Judge Rakoff wrote in a filing on Friday. In effect, the jury found that Rothschild was simply a swindler.
The MetaBirkins NFT collection, a set of 100 digital art collectibles, had generated more than $1 million in sales when it dropped in December 2021. However, French fashion house Hermès International sued the MetaBirkins NFT creator in January 2022, alleging the California-based artist’s Birkin-inspired collection infringed on its intellectual property rights. In February, a jury sided with the handbag maker, awarding the company $133,000 in damages.
Rothschild’s loss to Hermes serves as a warning to other creators in the underregulated NFT space, where intellectual property infringement isn’t entirely uncommon. His case is a reminder that creators should be mindful of the potential legal implications of their work.