The artist Mason Rothschild and his attorneys squared off again Wednesday with attorneys for Hermès about his alleged trademark infringement in federal court in Latest York.

Hermès first sued him in January 2022, after his release of 100 “MetaBirkins” NFTs, digital images of imaginary fur-covered handbags within the variety of the luxuy house’s prized Birkin handbag. Rothschild and his legal team have argued that his artistic expression is protected by the First Amendment. Rothschild and his team have contended that the MetaBirkins are two-dimensional works and are usually not three-dimensional handbags that might be utilized in the metaverse or in real life. They may, nevertheless, be held on a wall like a painting within the digital world.

During his cross examination Wednesday, Rothschild was shown a text where he described the MetaBirkins as “technically Metaverse ready.” He explained on the stand, “They’re made in a 3D program but today they’re 2D images…MetaBirkins are pictures of those 3D images in 2D.””

Much of Wednesday’s testimony focused on the event of the art project, the way it was promoted, resold, named, an extra rollout that never happened and the artist’s response to the lawsuit. Either side also hammered away about how integral the developer Mark Design was in making the MetaBirkins. Through the examination of diverse text exchanges, Rothschild said on the time that the MetaBirkins were being generated (in November 2021), he didn’t know the right way to use Houdini.

There was also a very good deal of debate about efforts to “pump” and “schill” the demand for MetaBirkins, which was driven largely by influencers and art world “whales.”

In his own defense, the artist and his attorneys, reiterated that he had created the MetaBirkins as a commentary on the antifur initiative that was taking hold in the style industry at the moment, and to see if the digital images could create some type of illusion that may very well be comparable to the physical products. They highlighted how MetaBirkins were initially offered for $450 and the costs later rose to “tens of 1000’s” on the resale market, including one which was sold at one point for $45,000. The artist receives a 7.5 percent royalty for resales of MetaBirkins. Rothschild said that he personally minted the primary MetaBirkin and has kept that one for himself.

Rothschild said a part of the project derived from an earlier one — a “BabyBirkin” NFT, which featured a rendering of a Birkin.

Either side agreed that Rothschild had promoted the MetaBirkins on his personal social media and had created ones for MetaBirkins on Instagram, Twitter and Discord, in addition to organising a site for MetaBirkins.

The jurors and the remainder of those in court saw posts by Rothschild that included images of other artists that had incorporated Birkin bags into their work including CJ Hendry and Barbara Segal (who sculpted versions of them in stone).

Much of Wednesday’s testimony was a matter of semantics akin to a cut-and-paste “typo” on an old resume and an exchange about “Tom Sachs Factory,” an NFT project created by one other brand-inspired conceptual artist, Tom Sachs. Rothschild said, “Tom Sachs generally is an influence however the project itself was not.”

Rothschild’s legal team also shared a number of the images that he exchanged with select people after being sued by Hermès, akin to certainly one of what looked like a MetaBirkin with the legal criticism displayed on it. He also spoke of 1 featuring a picture of a dead crocodile draped over a fake Birkin bag, explaining that he knew Hermès had a bit of little bit of history using crocodile skins (for select Birkin bags) and that the style’s inspiration, Jane Birkin, desired to remove her name from the bag at one point. “I desired to do this sort of as a ‘f.u.’” Rothschild said.

Quite a few texts were shown regarding plans for an extra run of MetaBirkins and the potential of introducing a fake fur-covered charm paying homage to the leather “Rodeo” bag charm that Hermès sells. The latter would have been given to purchasers of MetaBirkins as a surprise gift that will have been dropped of their wallets. Each ideas were shelved after Hermes sued Rothschild in January 2021. Upon that taking place, he got a lawyer and asked that they reach out to Hermès, he said.

“It sucks to get served. I wasn’t expecting it,” he said, adding that each side had been in talks. Asked if he was offended, Rothschild said, “Definitely.”

Although Hermès’ legal team had the entire contact information for Rothschild and his attorneys, he said, “They served me at work a couple of times,” turning up at Terminal 27, holding up a photograph of him to ask employees and customers about him.

Along with his art, Rothschild spoke of his involvement with Terminal 27, an art-fashion-event space that he owns together with his fiancé in Los Angeles. He also spoke of being the founding father of the Web3-centric creative studio Gasoline. Rothschild said he’s the primary NFT artist to be represented by the entertainment company Electric Feel, in addition to CAA.

To call the gathering, Rothschild posted a contest on social media in October 2021. He said he liked the sounds of meta since Facebook had recently been renamed that and in video game parlance meta means what’s happening. Noting how going “fur-free was what was happening” at the moment in fashion, he said, “I felt prefer it was a very good pairing.”