Artist Mason Rothschild lost a legal battle with luxury brand Hermès over his MetaBirkins NFT series, inspired by the brand’s luxury bags.
On Wednesday, the Southern District Court in New York announced that the MetaBirkins NFT project by Mason Rothschild does not pass the test to be qualified as art. As such, he was in violation of the copyright on the Birkins bag by Hermès, who was awarded $133,000 in damages.
In 2021, artist Mason Rothschild unveiled his MetaBirkins project – a series of luxury bags that closely resembled the Birkin series of luxury bags. The bags, which themselves were covered in fake fur, were meant to be a satire on the luxury fashion industry and its animal cruelty. However, soon after, Hermès sent Rothschild a cease-and-desist notice to stop his series. The artist refused and continued the series, which brought him $1.1 million in revenues. In January 2022, the fashion brand filed a lawsuit against Rothschild.
The court instructed the jury to decide whether the MetaBirkins series constituted as art or not. The jury concluded that the series was not different enough from the Birkin series, and many buyers would not be able to tell the difference. As such, it constituted a copyright infringement on the Hermès product.
Mason Rothschild and many in the art community see this as a loss for artists and a dangerous precedent. The decision comes at a time when many NFTs are created as a satire on established designs and artworks. A similar case under trial has pitted artist Ryder Ripps against another NFT giant, Yuga Labs.