After obtaining a legal victoryagainst the NFT collection for trademark infringement, Hermès is requesting that the collection be permanently taken offline.
Hermès won a significant legal victory last month against MetaBirkins, an NFT collection found to have violated trademarks protecting the French designer’s Birkin handbag. Despite the historic nature of the ruling, Hermès remains unsatisfied.
Friday, the luxury house filed a motion requesting that the court issue a permanent injunction prohibiting MetaBirkins creator Mason Rothschild from ever again selling MetaBirkins NFTs. This would be a more grievous punishment for the creator of the NFT than what a Manhattan jury handed down in early February.
“Notwithstanding the verdict in Hermès’s favor, Rothschild continues to promote MetaBirkins NFT sales through various social media channels, and he will obtain a royalty from any such sales,” attorneys for the fashion giant wrote. “Rothschild’s past and present conduct demonstrates he is likely to continue infringing Hermès’s trademarks if a permanent injunction is not issued.”
Rothschild profits from MetaBirkins NFT?
The attorneys for Hermès argued that since the verdict in February, Rothschild is still able to profit from the MetaBirkins NFT collection, while he continues to publicly criticize the jury’s decision.
The company says that these actions, along with what Rothschild has done in the past, have caused Hermès irreparable harm that can’t be remedied with standard monetary compensation. For an injunction to be given, it would have to prove both claims.
Rothschild did, in fact, tweet repeatedly in the days following the case’s verdict, criticizing the jury for determining that his NFT collection lacked sufficient “artistic relevance” to be considered free expression.
Take nine people off the street right now and ask them to tell you what art is but the kicker is whatever they say will now become the undisputed truth. That’s what happened today.
— Mason Rothschild (@MasonRothschild) February 8, 2023
A multibillion dollar luxury fashion house who says they “care” about art and artists but..
Rothschild does not appear to have specifically directed his followers to purchase MetaBirkins NFTs following the verdict. However, he did post defenses of the artistic legitimacy of his project. Attorneys for Hermès predominantly objected to Rothschild’s repeated use of the Instagram handle for the MetaBirkins collection in Friday’s filing.
MetaBirkins was banned from OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, but the collection’s website and listing on NFT trading platform LooksRare are still active. However, it appears that no Metabirkins NFTs have been sold since December.
Content Source: decrypt.com
