Sign Up for Alerts
Sign up to receive receive industry-specific emails from our legal team.
Sign Up for Alerts
We provide tailored, industry-specific legal updates to our clients and other friends of the firm.
Areas of Interest
January 29th, 2023
First NFT Trademark Trial Pits Hermès Against Metabirkin Artist
Blockchain Technology Co-Chair Jeremy S. Goldman is quoted in the article, “First NFT Trademark Trial Pits Hermès Against Metabirkin Artist” published by Bloomberg Law. The article discusses the French luxury brand Hermès International SA’s trademark trial against digital artist Mason Rothschild. Hermès is arguing that Rothschild violated trademark law by creating and selling “MetaBirkin” NFTs that depict digital images of the famous Birkin handbag. The trial is expected to test the boundaries of artistic expression and how nonfungible tokens are viewed in the eyes of decades-old intellectual property law. Jeremy is quoted saying, “Deciding whether an NFT project is protected art or if it is a digital knockoff subject to trademark law is no easy job. You could have a one-of-one, oil-on-canvas painting that gets sold in a gallery and no one would treat that as merchandise or as a consumer product. But if you take that same painting, and you put it on posters, and you sell 100 of them, then it starts to look more like a commercial product.”
Read the full article and Jeremy’s quotes here.
Other Quoted
Key Amendments to the New York Rules of Professional Conduct
The New York Law Journal quotes Tyler C. Maulsby on the recently amended Rules of Profesisonal Conduct, which will affect conflicts, screening of laterals, fairness to opposing counsel, and more. (Behind paywall) View Article
April 1 2025
Duke’s ‘White Lotus’ Cameo Not Likely An IP Problem for HBO
Law360 quotes Kimberly M. Maynard on whether HBO was within its rights to use Duke University's apparel in its artistic expression on the dark comedy show "The White Lotus." Kim argues that when discussing something that's clearly an artistic expression, brand owners' rights are fairly limited by the First Amendment and the Rogers case, even as amended by the Jack Daniels' case. (Behind paywall) View Article
March 31 2025
The Television Academy’s Second Annual AI Summit Pushed Calm—and Concern
IndieWire quotes Andrew Folks who spoke on a panel of legal experts at the Television Academy’s AI Summit at the Saban Media Center in North Hollywood. The speakers addressed AI's impact on the industry and talent. Mr. Folks stated that privacy and copyright laws “are grappling” to address AI. He explained regulatory actions, and the application of copyright law. He also discussed litigation, including how OpenAI and Google in a government proposal argued that fair use protections apply to all copyrighted material used for AI purposes. The article noted, "over 400 A-List Hollywood power players condemned such an action." View Article
March 21 2025
