Hermès Wins NFT Trademark Lawsuit

It’s a big day for legal precedent in Web3, as a lawsuit between luxury brand Hermès International SA, and Mason Rothschild, the artist behind the recently controversial MetaBirkin NFT project, has been settled. After six days of proceedings in a Manhattan courtroom, the ruling came back that Rothschild’s sale of handbag-inspired NFTs violated Hermès’ rights to the “Birkin” trademark.

A nine-person jury issued a verdict on Wednesday, February 8, awarding Hermès $133,000 in total damages and finding that Rothschild’s NFTs aren’t protected speech under the First Amendment. With regulation surrounding crypto and NFTs still vastly unestablished, this case will likely set the tone for future proceedings to be considered matters of intellectual property law.

This story is breaking and will be updated.