Artist sentenced for selling Hermès bags as NFTs
The Californian Mason Rothschild will have to compensate the French house up to 133,000 dollars for having created and marketed virtual Birkins without authorization.
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In 2021, the artist created a series of images in the form of NFTs, called MetaBirkins, which represented handbags inspired by the famous model launched by Hermès in 1984.
Twitter/MasonRothschild
The American artist Mason Rothschild was sentenced on Wednesday by a New York jury to pay 133,000 dollars in damages to the Hermès company for having created on the internet, and sold, virtual bags in the form of NFTs, without authorization from the saddler and leatherworker.
The decision was eagerly awaited, as it was to mark an important milestone in the debate on intellectual property in the world of NFTs, these certificates of authenticity associated with a computer file which can be an image, a text or a piece of music. They are supposed to allow the traceability of the ownership of a virtual object.
The MetaBirkins have grossed over $1.1 million
Multi-media artist, Californian Mason Rothschild – real name Sonny Estival – had created in 2021 a series of images in the form of NFT, called MetaBirkins, which represented handbags inspired by the famous model launched by Hermès in 1984. These MetaBirkins , made without the authorization of the French brand, were intended to be “a tribute to Hermès’ most famous bag, the Birkin”, according to the presentation of the NFTs on the internet.
The sale of these images brought in more than $1.1 million, according to documents produced by Hermès as part of the lawsuit. Some of these NFTs are still available for resale on a specialized platform, at prices varying between 5,000 and 165,000 dollars.
Creations not protected by the First Amendment
Hermès had seized American justice in January 2022, arguing that Mason Rothschild “[avait] violated” and “[continuait] to infringe” the brand’s intellectual property and threatened to continue, making and selling the MetaBirkins.
The misuse, and without the company’s consent, of the Birkin and Hermès brands was “likely to cause confusion and misinterpretations in the minds of buyers,” said the Parisian house.
The artist had argued that his creations fell under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects freedom of expression. But the jury ruled that NFTs fell outside the scope of the First Amendment.
“It’s a great day for big brands,” but “terrible for artists and the First Amendment,” responded Rhett Millsaps, one of Mason Rothschild’s attorneys. Hermès “acted to protect consumers and the integrity of its brand”, commented, for its part, a spokesperson for the saddler and leather goods maker.
(AFP)
