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ChristinaYoun-SecondPaper 4 - 01 Apr 2008 - Main.ChristinaYoun
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-- ChristinaYoun - 01 Apr 2008 | | | Fashion: the New Legal Battleground?
Introduction | |
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> | The Council of Fashion Designers of America [http://www.cfda.com/] has been pushing Congress to pass H.R. 5055 [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.05055], which will include fashion design to be protected under copyright. Designers such as Nicole Miller [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/weekinreview/09wilson.html?_r=1&oref=slogin] complain that their “original designs” should be protected because copying makes the trends “end too fast,” makes clothes “lose value,” and “ruins the whole thing.” | | | | |
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< | Why does it matter? | >
> | But isn’t fashion, as an institution, based on copying elements from other designs and disseminating the trends? Every season, we see very similar design elements from all the fashion houses, which get reinterpreted and trickle down to your local Forever 21. Manufacturers, retailers and some intellectual property scholars insist that copying promotes industry by inducing current trends to become obsolete and creating demand for new ones [http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/597]. | | | | |
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> | Why does it matter?
Copying allegedly accounts for more than 5% of the $181 billion American apparel industry [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/us/04fashion.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnlx=1207065800-KOCruUld%20Xj8bAttc/lvDA]. If designs were copyrighted, consumers would ultimately pay in the form of higher prices for the legal fees associated with checking for copyrighted material and obtaining rights to use “original designs” in low-end fashion. On a larger scale, copyrighting designs may put “copy giants” such as Forever 21 out of business, closing out the only option for many consumers who otherwise would not be able to afford styles that are in fashion. Those who cannot afford the high-end prices may be forced to be “unfashionable” (whose “haves” versus “have-nots” ramifications call for an entirely different paper). | | |
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< | What is being sold here? - the design or the trademark?
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> | What is being sold here? The design or the trademark?
Trademark and Anti-piracy Laws
The Anna Sui Example | | | | |
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> | So what is "ruined"?
The Bottega Veneta Example
Let the Market Speak | | |
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> | | | | Hi Christina,
Not sure where you plan to go with the paper but I thought you might want to consult this short article I read this summer. It was either in the New Yorker or The Economist. Don't remember... Anyways, the article argues that copies are actually good for the fashion industry because mass reproduction of trends "forces" fashionable women to buy new Fall, Spring, and Resort lines. They argue that fashionable women don't want to wear, say leggings or florals, once everyone begins to wear them. Stores like Forever 21 are good for higher name brands. |
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