| Mason
Rothschild on Trial Over Hermes Birkin Bag
NFT But Judge Asks Why No Income Qs
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 30 –
Hermes has sued Mason
Rothschild for using its
Hermes Birkin name to market
an NFT, METABIRKINS.
Just added "meta" changes
nothing, it
says.
On April 8, U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York
Magistrate Judge Gabriel W.
Gorenstein held a proceeding.
Inner City Press covered it.
Judge
Gorenstein said that all fact
discovery must be completed by
August 9.
The parties
say a trial would take five
days.
On May 4, after
the case was reassigned from
Judge Alison J. Nathan, now on
the Second Circuit, to Judge
Jed S. Rakoff, an oral
argument was held by Judge
Rakoff. Inner City Press
covered it. The defendant
argued that its products are
art.
Jump cut to
November 18, 2022, with Judge
Rakoff's courtroom and jury
box nearly full for an oral
argument in the case. Inner
City Press went and covered
it:
Hermes lawyer is
presenting his view of 2d
Circuit's "Welcome to Twin
Peaks" decision.
Judge Rakoff says
readers of NYT and WSJ sould
temper that with the New York
Post. Counsel quips, At least
for the sports section.
Judge Rakoff: My
knowledge of the Metaverse is
limited. But how can one wear
this bag in the Metaverse?
I'll send my next opinion not
to the 2d Circuit but to the
Metaverse. People are buying
NFTs. I hope they are not
using crypto currency
Hermes' lawyer
says these NFTs can *only* be
bought with crypto currency,
notes that 'in lat ten days
thos market has cratered" -
but no direct mentoon of FTX
Wait-
Hermes lawyer now does
say FTX, calls customers 'less
than sophisticated."
Lawyer for Mason
Rothschild decries a "blizzard
of red herrings."
Lawyer: Beyonce
has sung about Birkin bags. It
part of our culture. It is
political.
Judge Rakoff: Buy
the Meta-Birkin exposes the
hollowness of weath?
Lawyer: Well, it
is covered in goofy, garish
fake fur. It's like Andy
Warhol.
Judge Rakoff: So
your client will donate his
earnings to the poor? Lawyer:
Well, he has a project about
climate change
On December 30,
Judge Rakoff ruled: "trial of
this case will commence on
January 30, 2023."
On January 30,
Judge Rakoff chided counsel
for not asking the witness he
did allow - not the proposed
and rejected Warhol witness -
how much Mason Rothschild made
from the NFT. In the docket
are screenshots of his
Twitter, about the 49th versus
Cowboys (before both were
eliminated). The trial will
continue.
The case is
Hermes International et al v.
Rothschild, 22-cv-384 (Rakoff
/ Gorenstein)
***
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