So far, much of my copyright infringement research has revolved around music, books, digital works, peer2peer networks, and videos, but I have not read much about copyright in the fashion world. Before stumbling upon some related articles, I did not think that copyright, or any protection for that matter, applied to fashion designs. According to a Reuter’s article I bookmarked on Delicious, various fashion designers/brands, such as: Anthropologie (Urban Outfitters), Anna Sui, Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers brand, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Bebe Stores Inc have all filed copyright infringement lawsuits against the popular, trendy, and “inexpensive” retail store Forever 21. In this particular case, Anthropologie is suing Forever 21 for the second time for allegedly copying patterns used on several Anthropologie clothing designs. They are charging Forever 21 with, “copyright infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.” After reviewing Protection for Fashion Design, I agree with the idea of a design needing to be able to substantially exists separately from the article it is attached to in order to be eligible for protection. While the fashion industry is a place of art, creativity, and innovation, it often recycles concepts, and designers are heavily influenced by each other; whether the influence is what to or not to recreate, what is seasonally appropriate, or how to innovate a current trend. However, to be liable for “fashion infringement,” I think that a design really has to explicitly be a replica of the creator’s design, and in a very similar location as it is placed on the original article or garment. What do you think?
Copyright Infringement, Fashionable?
February 17th, 2010 by AshleyAshley Leave a reply »
Advertisement
Some Rights Reserved
Yes, isn’t fashion a very grey area for copyright as well? When styles are in season, do designers not tend to share the same concepts?
For example, to have skulls on T-Shirts, did someone have to buy the rights to have that printed on their own shirts or is the idea of a skull general enough that it isn’t regarded as copyright infringement. So then should we go with your point in that the design has ‘to be explicitly be a replica of the creator’s design’?
Where is the line?
This calls for a good research topic.
That is an interesting aspect of copyright infringement that didn’t cross my mind before reading this post. It’s a hard place to draw the line since fashion design is in completely different context than what we have been dealing with. Designers depend on their designs to stand out from the rest. But when cheaper stores such as Forever 21 copies them, how do we decide what about the new design that makes it unique? Do we look at different cuts? patterns? colors?
As we are learning more about copyright, I’m leaning more and more toward the pessimist side of things. I don’t think designers should be able to copyright their fashions because then that would severely limit what other people are allowed to create and design. Especially since I would imagine it would do a lot of harm to consumers who can’t afford designer prices.
Chris Sprigman at UVA has done some great work looking at the “negative space” of copyright in the fashion industry, where we have almost no protection but a lot of innovation. He wrote a summary of his paper here: http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/597
I’ve actually seen something about this before – it was a photo comparison of Forever21 styles with other design(ers)… in the case of Forever 21 I’ve seen that more often than not the ‘copied’ designs actually look pretty much exactly the same.
I agree with the points made about influences and copyright severely limiting what designers could potentially be able to create – but Forever 21 reminds me a bit of the Lexicon books – the clothing just really isn’t different enough. See examples: here,
“Deceptive trade practices” is pretty interesting as well, seems like theres a trademark issue here as well.
whoops, I left out two links: here (Harajuku Lovers), here (Anna Sui)
Interesting thought.
In my opinion, some brands copy off designs from other brands, switches the garment, and puts it out in the market as the cheaper version. Even in magazines, there are pages where they let the readers know what design is “in” lately, and where they can get the cheaper version of it (Lucky and Elle magazines are some good examples). However, the question is : are there any artistic values to the garments bought in Forever 21?
As mentioned earlier by others, I think that it is very hard to draw the line of copyright infringement in fashion world, since many designers get influenced by others. Designers have muses, and have a certain look or concept they want to achieve from a specific time line.
Is there a complete originality in fashion? Isn’t the line between copying and creating in fashion world too thin, anyways? What is a original of pea coat?
Logos in fashion world have copyrights. For example, Chanel, or Louis Vuitton have their distinct logos and no other brand is legally allowed to copy them. But other than logos, just generally speaking of designs, I think that in fashion world, there only can be a piece that is inspired by others, but best carried out to the buyers, which becomes the “new in of the season”.
Well, I was just watching this episode of Lipstick Jungle the other day. I think it was the first season, and the fifth episode called “Dressed to Kill”. In that episode, Victoria Ford’s design is stolen by her assistant. And when her friend Niko says that Victoria should file a lawsuit for copyright, Vic says that there is no such thing like copyright in fashion since “clothing is not considered an art”. I was shocked to hear this. I mean, isn’t that a little harsh to all the fashion people?
I thought fashion could totally be a form of art. i mean it is a subject taught in many art schools, isn’t it?
I agree with what Chelsea is saying, but Jessica Litman made a good point in “The Exclusive Right to Read” in saying that:
“in the short run, perhaps. clothing prices would come down as legitimate designers tried to meet the prices of their free-riding competitors. In the long run, though… the diminution in the incentives for designing new fashions would take toll. Designers would still wish to design, at least initially, but clothing manufacturers with no exclusive rights to rely on would be reluctant to make the investment involved in manufacturing those designs and distributing them to the public. The dynamic American fashion industry would wither, and its most talented designers would forsake clothing design for some more remunerative calling like litigation”
this seems to make sense too, right? However, Litman then clarifies that we don’t and never have had copyright protection for fashion, and this clearly has not happened yet. it’s an interesting topic… i wonder what the result of all these cases against forever 21 was?
I posted a bunch of links to delicious a while ago with a bunch of examples of fashion infringements.
Here they are again if you’re interested:
http://www.stylelist.com/2010/02/10/marc-jacobs-takes-ed-hardy-to-court/
http://www.stylelist.com/2010/02/22/burlington-coat-factory-ordered-to-pay-fendi-4-7-million-in-law/
http://www.stylelist.com/2010/02/23/custo-barcelonas-david-dalmau-facing-jail-time-over-alleged-cop/?icid=main|main|dl3|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stylelist.com%2F2010%2F02%2F23%2Fcusto-barcelonas-david-dalmau-facing-jail-time-over-alleged-cop%2F
I really think it depends on the severity of the copying. The Marc Jacobs/Ed Hardy example is blatantly obvious. The bags are identical minus Ed Hardy’s signature tattoo print. However, if it wasn’t for the cartoon picture right next to it, I would have never associated Dalmau’s design with Tweety Bird. I think it comes down to whether someone will look at a design and reasonably associate it with the work of another designer.
This page is very helpful for me to choose the viable product.
Ever since realizing that Lanham act does not protect fashion designers… I try to keep up to date with design infringement cases at http://www.fameappeal.com
There is bill in congress H.R. 2196: Design Piracy Prohibition Act that will hopefully solve our problems but there is little support for it