At last month’s Art Basel Miami, American artist Mason Rothschild’s NFT creation centered around the iconic Birkin handbag, showcasing up to 100 different styles and designs of Birkin pieces named MetaBirkins, quickly became the talk of the exhibition and art world. However, recently, after learning about the event, Hermès officially issued a copyright infringement warning to the artist, demanding an immediate halt to all related creations.
Regarding the creation of MetaBirkins, Mason Rothschild used different simulated artificial fur and a range of dazzling colors and patterns to create exactly 100 Birkin handbags that have never been seen in the real market. These handbags were then sold on the well-known crypto art platform OpenSea and auctioned on Basic.Space, starting at a price of 0.1 ETH. The peak of the transactions even reached nearly $1.1 million. As a result, this hot topic finally caught the attention of Hermès officials. Despite Mason Rothschild stating in interviews that the original intention of the creation was to pay tribute to the classic legend of Birkin, Hermès ultimately did not accept the artist’s explanation and issued a warning of infringement, alleging that the artist violated Birkin’s trademark and intellectual property.
In the end, MetaBirkins was immediately taken down and deleted by OpenSea after receiving a warning, and Mason Rothschild also responded to the legal letter from Hermès on Instagram, saying: “The ‘First Amendment’ gives me the right to create art based on my understanding of the world around me, MetaBirkins is an interesting abstraction of existing fashion cultural landmarks. I have reinterpreted the form, material, and name of a known cultural touchpoint.” He also objected to OpenSea’s removal of MetaBirkins from their platform. However, the saga is far from over, as even after being sued, Mason Rothschild not only did not completely cease his related activities, but also sold MetaBirkins on another NFT marketplace, Rarible.
圖片來源：MetaBirkins
