Hermès sues artist who sells Birkin bag-shaped NFTs

French luxury brand Hermès has sued an artist in New York who created NFTs (non-fungible tokens) from leather bags inspired by the brand’s famous Birkin model.

At first, artists Mason Rothschild and Eric Ramirez created an NFT they called “Baby Birkin”, inspired by the Hermès bag.

Faced with the success of sales of the first NFT, Rothschild created a hundred “MetaBirkins”, which he put up for sale for thousands of euros and with payment through cryptocurrencies.

In the complaint filed with federal court in Manhattan (New York), to which AFP had access, Hermès accuses Mason Rothschild of being a “digital speculator who seeks to get rich quickly by appropriating the MetaBirkin brand” through the sale of his NFT.

“The MetaBirkin brand simply appropriates Hermès’ famous Birkin brand by adding the prefix ‘meta’ to it,” the lawsuit states.

The artist “openly acknowledged that he decided to sell his NFTs under the name ‘MetaBirkins’ because a Birkin bag is a precious commodity in the real world,” the company argues.

Birkin bags, an emblematic Hermès product, inspired by the English singer and actress Jane Birkin, are sold in the brand’s stores for thousands of euros.

According to the group, the name “Metabirkins” gave the artist “financial success within a few weeks. There is no doubt that this success is due to a confused use of the Hermès brand,” he said.

“Hermès’ claims are unfounded,” Rothschild responded on social media. “I did not create or sell fake Birkin bags. I did art that represents imaginary Birkin bags covered in fur,” he added, comparing his work to that of Andy Warhol and his famous Campbell-brand soup can paintings.

“My salesmanship using NFT doesn’t change the fact that it’s art,” the artist said, explaining that he would like to discuss this with the company. “I hope that Hermès understands that they will not intimidate me,” he said.

AFP has reached out to Hermès, but the company said it does not comment on pending lawsuits.