The French luxury fashion house Hermès sees its trademark rights violated by the MetaBirkin of the artist Mason Rothschild.
The digital and virtual Birkin pays homage to the famous Hermès bag, where Rothschild has simulated over 100 custom Birkin-inspired NFTs using faux fur and a range of colors and graphics. However, the bags are not made by Hermès and are not real either.
NFTs are non-fungible tokens – virtual, non-exchangeable proof of ownership for digital objects. These can be, for example, avatars or digital outfits that can be used in games, but also virtual works of art or pieces of music. The NFTs are stored in a blockchain system that records who owns something and where sales transactions are registered. NFTs can be bought with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins, but also with US dollars or euros.
Virtual bags that trade for over $ 1 million
The bags were up for sale on OpenSea, a peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, with a retail value of $ 1.1 million, but were removed earlier this month. The Rothschild open letter suggests that Hermès may allege that they are infringing its trademark rights because the designs are neither licensed nor endorsed.
In an open letter posted on his Instagram feed, Rothschild said the MetaBirkin NFTs are protected from the luxury brand’s trademark claims. He had previously received a cease and desist letter from Hermès. “The first amendment to the constitution gives me every right to create art that is based on my interpretations of the world around me,” according to the artist Rothschild, who also believes that his designs “are a commentary on the history of animal cruelty in fashion and the current one Turn to alternative fur-free and textile initiatives. “
The French luxury fashion house disagrees, however. “Hermès has neither approved nor consented to the commercialization or creation of our Birkin Bag by Mason Rothschild in the Metaverse,” the company told the British newspaper Financial Times in early December. Hermès also sees its trademark rights violated by the forgeries in the Metaverse. The group is not yet its own entered the NFT market because it appreciates the “handcrafted” character of physical objects “.
This post was made with the help of Weixin Zha.