{"id":658,"date":"2023-02-24T12:27:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T12:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/?p=658"},"modified":"2023-03-03T12:27:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T12:27:42","slug":"hermes-wins-on-metabirkins-cryptobags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trade-dress\/hermes-wins-on-metabirkins-cryptobags\/","title":{"rendered":"Herm\u00e9s Wins on Metabirkins Cryptobags"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since the explosion of the Metaverse and NFTs, and despite their fizzling, it has been a hotly debated question whether NFTs or other digital objects that bear the trademarks and trade dress linked to real-world objects are infringing.\u00a0Can anyone make a Porsche sportscar for the Metaverse? Or is that right for Porsche alone? Do McDonalds\u2019 rights in its iconic golden arches extend to virtual stores where avatars can buy virtual Big Macs? Trademark owners have rushed to shore up their rights, filing applications to register their existing marks for online services and digital objects, as well as releasing collaborations and NFT collections of their own, but the answer remained unclear until this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Our previous article\u00a0\u201cIf You Can\u2019t Buy a Birkin, Buy a MetaBirkin?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0discussed Herm\u00e9s\u2019 complaint against \u201cMason Rothschild,\u201d the\u00a0nom de crypto<\/em>\u00a0of Sonny Estival, who had released an NFT collection of what he called \u201cMetabirkins\u201d \u2013 digital renderings of Herm\u00e9s\u2019 famous Birkin bag in different textures (mostly various furs and fuzzes) and colors (patterns taken from the Sistine Chapel,\u00a0Starry Night<\/em>, or evocative of Mondrian). Herm\u00e9s claimed that Rothschild\u2019s use of The Birkin trademark and trade dress infringed and diluted Herm\u00e9s\u2019 rights and his offering the NFT collection at metabirkins.com constituted cybersquatting. A year after bringing their action, Herm\u00e9s has prevailed after trial before a jury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rothschild\u2019s primary defense was that the NFT collection was an art project commenting on Herm\u00e9s\u2019 bags and the consumer demand for them and therefore protected by the First Amendment.\u00a0The more forgiving test for use of a trademark in the context of artistic expression originates from\u00a0Rogers v. Grimaldi<\/em>\u00a0and is often called the \u201cRogers<\/em>\u00a0test<\/em>.\u201d Whether the\u00a0Rogers test<\/em>\u00a0would apply to Rothschild\u2019s use of the Birkin mark and trade dress was a core dispute of this case and ultimately Rothschild was victorious. The Court finding at the end of 2022 found that the\u00a0Rogers<\/em>\u00a0test<\/em>\u00a0would apply.\u00a0However, the Court also found that the two prongs of the\u00a0Rogers<\/em>\u00a0test,<\/em>\u00a0which control whether the First Amendment protects a use of a mark from being found infringing, were questions of fact that would need to go to a jury: first, whether the use of the trademark was actually artistically relevant to the work and, second, if the use was used to explicitly mislead the public as to the source or content of the work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After a two-week trial, those questions were put to the jury, which found that the First Amendment did not bar liability for Rothschild\u2019s infringement.\u00a0While the jury\u2019s decision does not indicate whether they thought the use of the Birkin mark and trade dress were explicitly misleading, were not artistically relevant or both, they found him liable for trademark infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting, assessing total damages of $133,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While this was a decision based on the particular facts of this case, it will doubtlessly provide a signpost to future judges and juries asked to decide on whether the use of another\u2019s mark for metaverse or other digital goods infringes their trademark rights.\u00a0It strengthens the hands of rightsholders concerned about others launching online knockoffs of their brands and points to a Metaverse that, rather than an infringement free-for-all, will be a digital world that respects IP rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The blur between virtual reality and the real world can be unclear. If you are interested in this topic, or any other aspects of publicity, copyright, or trademark matters, please feel free to contact the intellectual property attorneys at\u00a0Norris McLaughlin<\/a>\u00a0about disputes over intellectual property.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the explosion of the Metaverse and NFTs, and despite their fizzling, it has been a hotly debated question whether NFTs or other digital objects that bear the trademarks and trade dress linked to real-world objects are infringing.\u00a0Can anyone make a Porsche sportscar for the Metaverse? Or is that right for Porsche alone? Do McDonalds\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[326,27,118,46],"tags":[289,290,210],"coauthors":[476],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHerm\u00e9s Wins on Metabirkins Cryptobags - More Than Your Mark\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/mtym\/trade-dress\/hermes-wins-on-metabirkins-cryptobags\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Herm\u00e9s Wins on Metabirkins Cryptobags\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since the explosion of the Metaverse and NFTs, and despite their fizzling, it has been a hotly debated question whether NFTs or other digital objects that bear the trademarks and trade dress linked to real-world objects are infringing.\u00a0Can anyone make a Porsche sportscar for the Metaverse? 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