The digital artist behind “MetaBirkin” nonfungible tokens can’t present testimony from an art critic who studies the work of Andy Warhol, Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled on the first day of a novel trademark trial involving Hermès International SA.
That may ultimately doom Mason Rothschild’s ability to compare his NFTs to the famous art created by Warhol, like his silk-screen prints of Campbell’s soup cans, Rakoff said Monday in the Southern District of New York. Rakoff granted, without detailed discussion, Hermès bid to exclude testimony from famed art critic Blake Gopnik.
The judge said Gopnik, an expert witness supporting Rothschild’s …