Hermès wins case against Mason Rothschild’s Metabirkins.

On Feb 8, a jury trial in the Southern District of New York reached a verdict in Hermès’ lawsuit against MetaBirkins. The court ruled that artist Mason Rothschild had violated the trademark protections of the brand Hermès. Rothschild’s 100 «Metabirkins» NFTs were found to not be artistic commentary and therefore not protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

According to a report by Vogue Business, a nine-member jury found Rothschild liable for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and «cybersquatting,» awarding Hermès $133,000 in damages. Notably, the decision marks the first time the relationship between digital art, NFTs, and physical fashion has been addressed in court. Hermès argued that NFTs represent a new product category, while Rothschild argued that there is no such thing as a digital twin. Rothschild said he plans to appeal the verdict.

In response to the court’s decision, the artist took to his Twitter account to express his disappointment. He shared:

«A broken justice system that doesn’t allow an art expert to speak on art but allows economists to speak on it. That’s what happened today. What happened today was wrong. What happened today will continue to happen if we don’t continue to fight. This is far from over.»

Take nine people off the street right now and ask them to tell you what art is but the kicker is whatever they say will now become the undisputed truth. That’s what happened today. A multibillion dollar luxury fashion house who says they «care» about art and artists but.. — Mason Rothschild (@MasonRothschild) February 8, 2023.

This case is expected to have far-reaching implications for the use of NFTs by artists and for the protection of intellectual property in the metaverse. Blockchain and tech lawyer Michael Kasdan who has been following the case for a while now shared his thoughts on the ruling on Twitter. According to him, «It would have been more surprising and a ‘bigger deal’ in terms of changing the status quo if Rothschild had won.»

My 2 cents FWIW on the #Hermes v Rothschild #MetaBirkins verdict: I’m not terribly surprised the jury found for Hermes. And I think it was probably the right result. Anecdotally, when people I knew heard or saw «MetaBirkins,» many did think «Oh, that’s Hermes.» /1 THREAD https://t.co/KuWEhKmuR2 — Michael Kasdan (@michaelkasdan) February 8, 2023.

Related: Intellectual property has an awkward fit in Web3 decentralization — Lawyers.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, court documents filed on Jan. 23 revealed that Hermès believed that the collection improperly used the Birkin trademark and potentially confused customers into believing the luxury brand was in support of the project.

In September 2022, Cointelegraph spoke to David Kappos, a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, who noted that the tension between Intellectual Property (IP) and decentralization does not have a clear solution. When asked about third parties creating digital artworks or wearables of branded products, Kappos advised that «an unlicensed implementer in a Web3 environment should refrain from creating a wearable that is confusingly similar to a brand owned by a third party — the same as in the real world.»

Related Topics:

Uniswap’s BNB deployment should use multiple bridges, claims LIFI CEO.

YouTuber baits MMA fighter to promote fake NFTs: Nifty Newsletter, Feb. 1–7.

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NFT News.

BIS-funded regulator to probe DeFi entry points like stablecoins.

February 16, 2023.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the financial regulator funded by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is pushing international regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi).

The FSB on Feb. 16 issued a report on the financial stability risks of DeFi, highlighting major vulnerabilities, transmission channels and the evolution of DeFi.

Despite providing many «novel» services, DeFi «does not differ substantially» from traditional finance (TradFi) in its functions, the authority said in the report. By trying to replicate some functions of TradFi, DeFi increases potential vulnerabilities due to the use of novel technologies, the high degree of ecosystem interlinkages and the lack of regulation or compliance, the FSB argued.

Moreover, the actual degree of decentralization in DeFi systems «often deviates substantially» from the stated claims of the founding originators, the authority claimed.

In order to prevent the development of DeFi-associated financial stability risks, the FSB is cooperating with global standard-setting bodies (SSB) to assess DeFi regulations across multiple jurisdictions.

Monthly DeFi unique addresses and number of DeFi apps. Source: FSB.

In this regard, a key element to consider would be the entry points of DeFi users, including stablecoins and centralized crypto asset platforms, the FSB said, adding:

«The FSB may consider whether subjecting these crypto-asset types and entities to additional prudential and investor protection requirements, or stepping up the enforcement of existing requirements, could reduce the risks inherent in closer interconnections.»

The FSB emphasized that both asset-backed stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and algorithmic stablecoins like Dai (DAI) play an important role within the DeFi ecosystem through their use in purchasing, settling, trading, lending and borrowing other crypto-assets. The rise of stablecoins would also likely increase the adoption of DeFi solutions by retail and corporate users as well as facilitate the adoption of crypto assets as a means of payment, the regulator suggested.

«With respect to liquidity and maturity mismatch issues, stablecoins are a crucial area of focus,» the FSB wrote, stressing the need to understand the peculiarities of different stablecoins in order to monitor the risk they pose to the crypto industry, including DeFi ecosystems.

Related: Circle squashes rumors of planned SEC enforcement action.

The news comes amid the increasing scrutiny of some major stablecoins by global regulators. On Feb. 13, blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos Trust Company announced that it will stop issuing Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoins amid the ongoing probe by New York regulators. The New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust to stop BUSD issuance, alleging that BUSD is an unregistered security.

NFT News.

Dogecoin Price Prediction as Elon Musk Posts Photo of His Dog on Twitter – Is Elon Buying More DOGE?

February 16, 2023.

Source: TradingView.

The dogecoin price has gained by 3% in the past 24 hours, reaching $0.089260 in the context of an 8% increase for the cryptocurrency market as a whole. DOGE has also risen by 6.5% in the last 30 days, helped in part by ongoing support of the coin by Tesla- and Twitter-owner Elon Musk.

After wearing a Dogecoin T-shirt at the Super Bowl, Musk has now sparked online discussion by posting a photo of his Shiba Inu dog (the mascot of Dogecoin) on Twitter. However, given that DOGE has risen by less than other major tokens in the past 24 hours, it’s probably safe to say that the billionaire has not bought any more of the meme coin.

Dogecoin Price Prediction as Elon Musk Posts Photo of His Dog on Twitter – Is Elon Buying More DOGE?

DOGE’s indicators suggest that further rises for the altoin could be on the horizon. Its relative strength index (purple) has climbed from 40 a few days ago to nearly 60 today, with its current level meaning that it isn’t overbought yet and could enjoy more gains.

At the same time, the coin’s 30-day moving average (red) continues to climb above its 200-day (blue), and doesn’t look like it has peaked just yet. And if DOGE can break through the $0.09 mark, it could witness some sustained gains.

It seems that DOGE’s gains in the past 24 hours follow mostly from today’s marketwide rally, which has brought the meme token along with it for the ride. That said, it also comes after Musk posted another characteristic tweet of his, in which he makes some vague allusion to Dogecoin without actually showing any real evidence that he has increased his holdings.

This tweet did appear to cause a very brief rally in which DOGE rose to the resistance level of $0.09, but it quickly fell down again while other coins continued rising. As such, you could just as easily argue that Musk used it to briefly pump DOGE so that he could offload some of his holdings.

Musk has long and illustrious history of tweeting and meme-ing about Dogecoin. Aside from yesterday’s tweet, he also recently marked his attendance at Super Bowl LVII by wearing a Dogecoin T-shirt, doing so while sitting next to Fox Corp. and News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch.

This little stunt also caused a very brief mini-rally for DOGE, cryptocurrency which rose to $0.084 on Sunday before coming back down again. Yet what Dogecoin supporters are really holding out for is for Twitter to announce that it’s bringing cryptocurrency — and DOGE — payments to its platform.

Speculation over whether such a scenario would be realiyed mounted a couple of weeks ago, when the Financial Times ran an article reporting that the social network was pushing ahead with its digital payment plans, interest NFT projects and that it had even been applying for regulatory licenses across the US.

In light of Elon Musk’s long-standing championing of dogecoin — as well as hints last year that he may consider introducing the option to pay for Twitter subscriptions in DOGE — this report also sparked a rally. And it continues to feed hope that it’s only a matter of time before DOGE attracts another major, Elon Musk-owned adopter, after Tesla introduced DOGE payments for some merchandise in 2021.

Assuming that Twitter did end up integrating with Dogecoin, there’s little doubt that DOGE would surge, perhaps reaching $1 and beyond. However, in a world where this doesn’t happen, a realistic target for 2023 would be somewhere close to $0.13, as suggested by a recent report by crypto-exchange Changelly.

This would make for a gain of around 45% over DOGE’s current price, which in the context of a still-recovering market would be an achievement.

Buy Dogecoin Now.

Is Now A Good Time to Buy Dogecoin?

Assuming that the market is going to continue its upwards trajectory, now would be a good time to buy DOGE. That said, there other high-potential crypto projects that are worth investing in alongside the meme token. Accordingly, we’ve reviewed the top 15 cryptocurrencies for 2023, as analyzed by the CryptoNews Industry Talk team.

The list is updated weekly with new altcoins and ICO projects.

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.

NFT News.

From Overpriced JPEGs to Exclusive Experiences: Why 2023 Is the Year of the NFT.

February 16, 2023.

It’s time for NFTs to shake the stigma and show what they can do.

Ever since the phrase «non-fungible token» entered the general lexicon (along with «Zoomer,» «deepfake,» and «murder hornet»), NFTs have had a bit of a reputation problem. The stigma wasn’t entirely unearned; early NFT projects often served more as proofs of concept, vanity projects, or get-rich-quick schemes than functional, worthwhile collectibles, leading critics to call them everything from «overpriced JPEGs» to flat-out scams.

These days, NFTs are so much more, but the technology’s branding problem is still holding the concept back. In 2023, NFTs are often tied to rare physical items, exclusive events, or one-of-a-kind artwork (in image, video, or music format) — but you wouldn’t know that if you only listened to the critics. It’s time to re-examine the negative stigma around non-fungible tokens and put their utilitarian uses in the spotlight.

Confronting the NFT Branding Problem.

At its most basic, a non-fungible token is simply a unique digital identifier recorded on a blockchain to guarantee authenticity and ownership. So, what went wrong?

First, the NFT market experienced rapid growth in 2020, leading some to compare it to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. The expectation was that NFTs would rise dramatically, making a lucky few wealthy, then crash just as sharply, leaving financial wreckage in their wake. After all, aren’t bubbles doomed to burst? For some opportunistic minters, NFTs were simply a means to an end — a way to make some quick cash before early NFTs inevitably lost their value. Unfortunately, the strategy backfired; even though a DexterLab Twitter survey showed that 64.3% of respondents bought NFTs solely to make money, over half of the same respondent pool actually lost money.

One industry where NFTs were poised to make a big impact was video games. Players dreamed of being able to actually own their virtual items and take them from game to game — a concept that developers repeatedly said would never happen on a grand scale. Gaming’s biggest NFT success story was Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-esque online game with a play-to-earn mechanic that allowed players to earn the cryptocurrency Ethereum while collecting adorable creatures for their battle lineups. While Axie Infinity was meant to show the value of NFTs and cryptocurrency in gaming, it instead exposed vulnerabilities in the system; a 2022 hack led to losses of $615 million, while the value of its AXS coin dropped sharply with every crypto crash.

Finally, there’s a perception that NFT adoption is riddled with frictions at every step of the way and simply too complicated. In a Dibbs survey of 227 NFT enthusiasts across the globe, over a third of respondents listed either «purchasing crypto» or «setting up a wallet» as the greatest challenge to entering the market. Combine that with exaggerated claims of NFT functionality and it’s not hard to see how the technology developed such a muddled reputation.

The early history of NFTs may not have instilled confidence, but that’s the past. Now that the initial hype cycle has died down, it’s time for NFT creators to look beyond these early stumbles and find more creative uses for the technology that are actually worth the fanfare.

Giving NFTs New Meaning.

Remember what we said about NFTs mirroring the dot-com bubble? Well, true to form, the bubble burst — but that might actually be a good thing for NFT creators. As Rolling Stone put it, «While the hype cycle has died off, creators, investors, and brands continue to invest in NFTs. For creators, it all comes down to aligning their own incentives with those of their fans.» In other words, going forward, NFT creators should worry less about chasing trends (and a quick payout) and more about cultivating unforgettable brand loyalty-enhancing experiences. That’s why individuals and businesses are now exploring more practical uses for NFTs, adding more to their value than simple digital scarcity.

We analyzed the top 100 NFT collections of all time and found that 64% have two or more types of utility. Additionally, 73% of collections traded during the survey period had two or more utilitarian uses.

What might these utilities be? That’s where things get exciting because the possibilities are almost limitless. Here are the top three categories we discovered in our research:

Physical collectibles: Members can exchange their NFT for a corresponding object, like a rare trading card.Access to exclusive events: This might include backstage access at a concert or the ability to visit the locker room at a sporting event.Exclusive merchandise: Brands like Nike and Adidas are tying NFT production to rare apparel and footwear drops.

As NFT technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more uses for these tokens, which makes them far more appealing to the general public.

The Future Is Phygital.

«Unless it solves a unique problem innovatively, NFTs are of minimal merit to the real world.»

This is something Brad Hart, Chief Technology Officer for software developer Perforce, told Game Developer in 2022. Hart’s comment highlights a common public perception: Without pragmatic uses, NFTs are a solution in need of a problem. That doesn’t have to be the case, however, as physical-backed NFTs have proven.

One of the most interesting data points from our survey is that 84% of respondents said they would purchase an NFT if it were redeemable for a physical item. NFTs as a token of ownership is a concept tech enthusiasts can get behind, and with the right partner, the process actually makes it easier to sell, trade, and store unique (and often quite valuable) physical items.

For example, let’s say you wanted to sell a guitar that once belonged to a famous musician. Sure, you could have it authenticated by an expert third-party, list it on an auction website, and handle the shipping yourself while hoping to find a buyer who can safely store such a treasure, but that requires a lot of logistical challenges–– time and a non-insignificant upfront cost.

Alternatively, you could partner with an exchange like Dibbs and let the experts handle the hassle. The right NFT partner should be able to mint (register onto the blockchain) the token representing ownership, store the corresponding item in a secure vault, and handle royalty payments every time the NFT changes hands in the future. That way, you wouldn’t have to worry about your rare guitar getting damaged in transit, while the buyer can choose to keep it safe in the vault as long as they need to.

Considering that two out of the top three functional preferences for NFTs (as shown above) are physical items, it’s clear that this concept has enough potential to help the public see NFTs in a new light. Once we get over the idea that NFTs are nothing but overpriced digital artwork, we can cast aside the stigma and explore even more ways to use the technology to create unforgettable experiences and connect consumers with rare, high-quality phygital (using technology to bridge the digital world with the physical world with the purpose of providing a unique interactive experiences for the user) experiences. It’s time to give NFTs another look — they’re just getting started, and the future looks bright.

About the Author.

Ben Plomion is Chief Marketing Officer at Dibbs. He is responsible for creating value for partners, developing go-to-market strategies, as well as growing Dibbs’s consumer marketplace. Before joining Dibbs, Ben was Chief Growth Officer at GumGum, a contextual advertising company. Ben led the North American sales, customer success and operations teams which include 150+ employees and annual revenue in excess of $200M.

Ben successfully launched GumGum’s In-Gaming division as well as a suite of Connected TV and Social media products. Prior to that role, Ben led the global marketing and communications team as Chief Marketing Officer. Before GumGum, Plomion was Head of Marketing for the programmatic advertising company Chango, where he established the business development and marketing organizations and helped guide the firm to its acquisition by Rubicon Project.

Earlier, he held a variety of marketing leadership positions at General Electric, where he helmed the company’s global digital media practice. Ben is a French native and a graduate of GE’s Experienced Commercial Leadership program and McGill University’s MBA program. He is a regular marketing contributor for Forbes and sits on the Board of the MMA. Ben lives in Venice Beach, CA with his wife and son, and is an avid surfer and skateboarder.