Luxury house Hermès recently expressed its dissatisfaction with the release of unauthorized digital creations known as MetaBirkins. The controversy began when Mason Rothschild, in collaboration with painter Eric Ramirez, created an NFT called “Baby Birkin” in early 2021. The artwork was sold on the Basic Space platform for an impressive $23,500. Inspired by the success of Baby Birkin, Rothschild decided to create a series of 100 NFT interpretations of the iconic Hermès Birkin bag, called MetaBirkins. These NFTs were listed for sale on OpenSea in December.
However, this initiative did not sit well with Hermès, who promptly spoke out against it. The luxury fashion house accused the NFTs of being “fake Hermès products” and claimed that they violated their brand image and intellectual property rights. As a result, OpenSea removed the MetaBirkins from its platform after being contacted by Hermès. Despite this setback, Rothschild continued to promote the NFTs on Discord and Rarible, citing artistic freedom of expression. He even filed a domain name request for the MetaBirkins project on November 7.
In response to these actions, Hermès took legal action by filing a lawsuit with a New York court. In their complaint, the company emphasized the misleading nature of the MetaBirkins project and requested the termination of the venture, the recovery of the domain name, and the payment of damages linked to the sale of the NFTs. According to Hermès’ claims, the total sales volume of the MetaBirkins NFTs exceeded $1.1 million, with individual prices ranging from $15,200 to $45,100.
This incident also confirmed that Hermès has not yet released its own officially authorized NFTs. The luxury brand’s decision to take legal action shows its determination to protect its intellectual property and preserve its brand integrity in the digital space.
Useful links:
1. Hermès official website
2. OpenSea platform
