Hermès Advances Trademark Claims Against MetaBirkins NFT Artist

Hermès International can proceed with a lawsuit alleging that a digital artist infringed its trademarks by selling “MetaBirkins” nonfungible tokens, a New York federal judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss in a one-page order and said the court would issue an opinion with the reasons for the ruling.

The ruling is one of the first to apply intellectual property law to NFTs, which are digital commodities traded using blockchain technology.

Hermès argued that Mason Rothschild’s use of the MetaBirkins name for ...