Fashion Designers Turning To Patents To Protect Their Designs (And Kill The Industry)
from the how-short-sighted-can-you-be dept
Five years ago we pointed out that the entertainment industry could take a wonderful lesson from the fashion industry. After all, here was a highly competitive, extremely profitable, exceptionally innovative creative industry -- and it was doing all that without copyright protection. It seemed to show quite the opposite of what many in the entertainment industry predicted would happen without copyrights. Unfortunately, though, the lessons seemed to go in the other direction. The fashion industry got jealous of the entertainment industry's ability to crack down on innovation with copyrights and pushed Congress to introduce new legislation that would add a copyright for fashion design. Recently such laws have been getting a big push from politicians who are pandering to the fashion industry. Of course, studies have shown that the very reason the industry has thrived was because the lack of IP protection. In fact, one bit of research showed that adding IP protections to fashion could kill the industry.While that may sound counterintuitive at first, it's not once you understand the market a little bit more. Fashion is a trend industry. You need a trend to make something popular and the only real way to get a trend is when designers are copying each other. Without that ability trends don't show up, and the demand for the latest "trend" dries up. On top of that, having copycat designs on the lower end actually act as a "signal" that a high-end designer is on to something. It helps prop up the price of those name-brand designs, while making similar copycat designs more affordable to a lower end of the market that would never buy the high end designers. It's both a way of establishing a larger market and doing price discrimination.
However, it appears that fashion designers still don't want to understand the economics of intellectual property and why it may hurt them. Since the bill for copyrights on fashion designs is still making its way through Congress, designers have taken it upon themselves to start using design patents instead and enforcing those rights aggressively (thanks to Gary for sending the story in). Considering that the recording industry's aggressive enforcement of copyrights has contributed to a massive slide in revenue for that industry, you would think that the fashion industry would think twice before following it down that path.
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Filed Under: copyright, fashion industry, patents
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competition
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Re: competition
Positive cooperation, however, is a way to defeat unneeded protectionism, as we've begun to see in the F/OSS community and more recently in the music industry.
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Re: Re: competition
Seriously think about it. Bush has done a lot of damage to the United States. All in the name of "protecting" it.
Others are just taking the same mentality (eg "protecting" things *wink wink*) and applying it elsewhere.
You'd see it more places if there was more opportunity to do such things.
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too either/or -- protect without being too stringe
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Re: too either/or -- protect without being too str
Also, this will give knock off products made in China more demand, as suing them over infringement will be much harder (impossible) and they know it. While harmless Sally Q, here in the "good 'ol us of a" will get her stockings sued off.
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Re: too either/or -- protect without being too str
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Re: too either/or -- protect without being too stringe
It seems to me that current designers don't mind ripping off previous designs but don't want to return the favour to future designers.
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Re: Re: too either/or -- protect without being too stringe
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Re: Re: too either/or -- protect without being too stringe
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Re: too either/or -- protect without being too stringe
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When is a Design Different?
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Lessons
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I wonder what sort of copyright protection a clothing designer would seek. Or, rather, what modification to copyright law would be sought. As it stands, clothing, being a "useful article" (technical term), is copyrightable only if the design incorporates pictorial or graphic features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the clothing.
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Re:
>> The only way to protect clothing through
>> patent law is a design patent.
>>
Let me re-phrase: the only way to protect the aesthetic design of clothing (which is what we're discussing here) in patent law is with a design patent.
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Re: Shirt Patent
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Good Riddance
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Wait, you're saying that people don't actually buy and wear those fashion lines that look like they came out of a futuristic Japanese fighting game? :)
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Learn to sew, play guitar, write software... don't need em
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Killing itself
You could also argue that the reason why people use so much money on clothes is that the trend changes so fast, and make people buy more to catch up.
With the trend changing much slower, the market will shrink considerably.
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Long Run
huge indie-fashion/social revolution will save the fashion industry. Grunge will come back and it will be lamer than ever.
Fashion has always been cyclical and IP protectionism puts a Berlin style wall up in between end and re-beginning. *
* All of the above is only in relation to countries that adopt the laws being discussed. The places that don't will become the trend leaders as they will not be hindered by the Laws of other places.
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Waste of Patent Office's Time
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U.S.Patented Buckle Devices..
in production, and I do own the patent; think of the many "knock-off" that will incurr, after the production of "high" end devices? I'm am the designer, of this fashionable, patented, wireless buckle, accessory..the future of fashion and communication, technology is merging.
I would like to sell patent...or to give licensing to other
designers.
Information: Gerald Thomas akata@sbcglobal.net
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Protecting Clothing Designs
I just read the article on IP for clothing designs. I agree that there should be protection of a new/unique design for a given period of time. If everyone copies your design, how is it that the person who created the design profits from it. It would be a great loss to the creator. However, to spread the wealth and buz, the creater can license the design to others. That way the creator does not lose out on the profit and others can benefit as well.
Thanks for allowing me to share my comments.
EL
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Patents to protect fashion
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Pro Patents to protect fashion
Yes, fashion is cyclical. It gets bigger with new 'style derivatives. Like the gay fashionista's a-hole.
People need to STOP COPYING OFF other designers. Derivatives of derivatives is silly, because of the ME-TOO bandwagon jumpers want to take shortcuts in creativity.
I am for this change. Kill all the copycats.
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