Sizing up the spat over red carpet copycats
Leading fashion designers lobby to copyright their work to curb the knockoff industry.
from the March 2, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Affordable, chic clothing
Three firms that offer couture cheap – ABS, Eletra Casadei and online seamstress Jane Langdon – all declined interview requests. On her website, Langdon defends her work as a service to women who want to be fashionable but cannot afford designer prices. Through a media spokesperson, ABS design director Allen Schwartz points out that his Oscar line is only 2 percent of his business and says ABS wants to be known primarily for its own original designs rather than for its copies.
But fashion suffers from more than the knockoff industry, say some experts, who believe that the discussion of copyright protection reflects a deeper lack of respect for the art and science of design.
"Fashion has long been the stepchild of the design world," says Natalie Weathers, assistant professor at the Fashion Industry Management School of Engineering and Textiles at Philadelphia University. "For the longest time, it was relegated to the home [economics] curriculum and you know how much respect that's gotten from both men and women," she says.
Whether or not this legislation addresses the fashion industry's concerns, the next generation of designers and consumers both have a stake in protecting creativity, contends intellectual property lawyer, Tracy Durkin.
"What about the young designer who puts together a show, which is a lot of time and very costly, only to see it turn up on the Internet within a matter of weeks? The big designers can weather that kind of hit, but the up and coming won't be able to survive."
Bought couture
Why can't designers copyright clothes? Essentially, the law says that anything that is inherently useful can't be copyrighted. Because clothing is designed to cover the body (most of the time), it remains a utilitarian object. Items that can be separated from the clothing, such as a trademark, can be copyrighted. Hence, the horseback polo rider on Ralph Lauren clothing is copyrightable, while the polo shirt it rests on is not. A similar policy applies to handbags, which explains why Louis Vuitton, Coach, Fendi, and others liberally sprinkle trademarks all over the leather or fabric used in the bags.
RSS feed
