Hermes is set to argue its case in court against digital artist Mason Rothschild over trademark infringement claims. According to several sources in the case, both parties were present in the Manhattan court today. The famous brand leveled accusations bordering on trademark infringement on Rothschild for digitizing, promoting, and selling MetaBirkins as an NFT. Initially, Rothschild mentioned that the Hermes-made Birkin bags influenced the project.
Hermes says Rothschild infringed on their trademark
The lawsuit was set in motion last year after Rothschild failed to adhere to the warnings of the luxury product group and cease production and distribution of the NFT collection. In the details obtained from the court documents, Hermes argued that Rothschild created the project to make it look like he got an endorsement from the company.
However, the company noted that they were not informed and did not flag off such projects. Meanwhile, the details of the court documents claim that Rothschild believes he is on his right with the design. This is because he feels that his creation and project are protected under the first amendment right. Furthermore, on his Twitter page, he mentioned that he and every other creator could choose the art they want to create.
Brands continue to crack down on NFT projects
Lawyers and legal experts trained in intellectual property have had one or two things to comment about the case in the build-up to today. One highlight is that this case could eventually shape how things are created in the NFT sector. In a recent post, a legal expert mentioned that it could signal a drastic turning point for the Web3 community. However, there are still questions on whether authorities could enforce trademarks obtained in the real world to the digital world. The world will be on the lookout for this case, there is still a little hope for the digital world through first amendment rights.
Another lawyer also mentioned that although the caseis serious, he doesn’t think it would affect things in the long run. Meanwhile, brands have been calling out digital artists for infringing on their trademarks over the last few years. Last year, Nike filed a lawsuit against a digital company for reselling its sneakers as NFTs. Later in the same year, a movie producer was also embroiled in a lawsuit after an NFT creator planned to auction out some of the private scenes from his movies as an NFT.
