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Help! He stole my purse… ‘s intellectual property rights.
Starting today, a blockchain entrepreneur whose MetaBirkins NFTs look strikingly similar to the ultra-expensive actual Birkin handbag will be going head-to-head in court with luxury designer Hermès. The case could create a precedent for digital assets and copyright law in a burgeoning world of cryptocurrencies, metaverses, and all those other things your nephew is somehow still into.
Mason Rothschild debuted the MetaBirkin NFT, digital images of furry handbags sporting designs like the Mona Lisa, zebra hide, and smiley faces, in 2021. And despite not being able to physically carry your phone, wallet, or compact, one of the most expensive MetaBirkins goes for 100 ethereum – that’s more than $160,000 and comparable to some actual Birkin bags. Hermès is suing Rothschild for trademark infringement. His defense: The First Amendment and artistic expression.
Like many aspects of the internet and digital currencies, NFTs are not highly regulated. What guidelines exist are influenced by previous federal laws, but there’s not one solid framework. Experts are hoping the Birkin case will create more of an understanding of these types of legal battles, which are likely to become more common:
“[The Birkin case] will give us more guideposts for what to do with NFTs,” Thomas Brooke, a lawyer at Holland & Knight, told The Wall Street Journal. “With any new technology the courts are often having to apply existing law and figure out what works.”
It’s About the Music: Though the NFT market may appear like a wacky fad and complicated version of schoolyard Pokémon trades, there are benefits to adopting blockchain technology. In the music industry, even if a song gets streamed plenty of times on Spotify, a lot of that revenue goes to record labels and publishers. Many independent artists have begun selling their songs as NFTs as a way for fans to support them directly. It’s the futuristic version of throwing a buck in a busker’s guitar case.
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