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ARTICLE · 31 MARCH 2023

Run For Your Runway Rights In The Metaverse; Existing IP Rights Prevail: SDNY

S.S. Rana & Co.
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S.S. Rana & Co.

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The Defendant first introduced 'The Baby Birkin' as a single NFT consisting of an animation of Hermes' BIRKIN handbag which featured a 40-week old fetus on top...

IndiaIntellectual Property
Arpit Kalra
Arpit Kalra
Sulagna Goswami
Sulagna Goswami
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An artist named Mason Rothschild made headlines in the US when he openly revealed in his Instagram account that he has received a Cease & Desist Letter from the fashion Mogul Hermes claiming that his METABIRKIN Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a mere infringement of their federally registered trademarks and designs. Rothschild confidently proclaimed that his NFTs are shielded from Hermès's trademark claims by "the First Amendment", which gives him every right to create art based on his interpretations of the world around him.

Hermes v. Rothschild is one of the first cases which deals with IP rights of proprietors in the Metaverse and discusses the fine line between an art being creativity of an artist or a recipe for confusion and dilution. At one side Mason Rothschild fought for his rights as an artist and outrightly sought for protection under the First Amendment, on the other side Hermes brought out real time instances of confusion amongst public of assumptions of

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