Original Design Protection
The third part to the US delegation to France I will briefly explain. Should you need a more in-depth explanation then please read this week California Apparel News by Alison Nieder, Executive Editor, who was also invited to be part of the delegation to France. Alison has done a superb job of explaining this complicated issue. www.Apparelnews.net
There is a new US proposed bill that law makers in Washington DC are gearing up to reintroduce that will seek to extend copyright protection to original fashion design. This bill, will more or less match the legal protection that is in place in the European Unions.
Not surprising there are two opposing sides. One group is fighting to get this legislation past to help protect designers from the long standing blatant piracy of their original creative designs. (Think of ABS knocking off red carpet designers who have worked so hard to get their designs onto top celebrities. As was the case of Kevin Hall who, after enjoying the thrill of having his original creation walk down the red carpet and awoke to see his pirated copy by ABS on Good Morning America! Is that right??
The other group feels that if this bill passes then we will be opening Pandora’s Box and will have more litigation and that new creative designers will in fact suffer from the more established manufactures suing the “little guys” as they have more funds to do so and the smaller new designer/manufacturers will not have the funds to protect themselves and so will suffer from this bill if it should pass.
It should be noted:
The French explained that in fact the opposite has been true, and since the passing of their more stringent bill there has been less legal disputes as the new law has clarified rather than confuse the law.
The way I see it:
I feel that if new designs can be more easily protected when they are introduced into the market then it could only be a good law for the new designers. We are all aware of trend following and that the fashion industry is an industry of “knock-offs”. But if a new trend is introduced by a designer who is then copied by the larger manufacturers, (as is usually the case), then it would be easier for the original designers to prove their claim. I think that the passing of this bill would mirror the EU, in that those who are guilty of this blatant piracy would be made to think twice and so make certain changes to the garments they have recently purchased at Fred Segell or other specialty boutiques with the intention of copying. This new law would make them think and while staying with the trend would use some original thought to design interpretation! What a concept!
It is seems strange to me that people feel it is OK to copy originally fashion designs but not music or other original works.
I will keep you posted.
