
A French luxury fashion house, Hermes, has succeeded in obtaining a permanent injunction from a U.S. court against the MetaBirkin NFT collection. The court ruled in favor of Hermes, stating that the MetaBirkins' creator, Sonny Estival (also known as Mason Rothschild), violated copyright laws. In June, a civil jury unanimously delivered a verdict against Rothschild. The MetaBirkins collection consists of 100 NFTs that depict furry handbags resembling Hermes' Birkin bags. The collection has generated over $1 million in trades. Despite Rothschild's argument that the NFTs were a parody of luxury goods protected by the First Amendment, Judge Jed Rakoff remained skeptical. The court order prohibits Rothschild from marketing, selling, or creating more MetaBirkins NFTs and mandates the transfer of control over the metabirkins.com domain name to Hermes. Additionally, the court rejected Rothschild's requests to dismiss the verdict or hold a new trial. This case could have significant implications for future web3-related disputes involving trademark infringement. It echoes Nike's lawsuit against the shoe reseller StockX in February 2022, over the unauthorized recreation of its sneakers as NFTs. The MetaBirkins dispute originated in January when Hermes accused Rothschild of misleading customers through improper use of its Birkin trademark. In February, the court found Rothschild guilty of trademark violation and ordered him to pay $133,000 in damages. In March, Hermes further requested an injunction, alleging that Rothschild continued to promote the sale of MetaBirkins NFTs for personal gain.