Counterfeiting And Piracy Of Fashion Design

Saying it “is all about 'investment dressing' - buying one piece and loving it for a long time”. (Siegle, 8) When buying a product the shopper should not be afraid to spend a little extra cash so it won’t have to be disposed in a few months time. Making more of a relationship to care for what is in their possession. And repair the clothes they have since “just 2 per cent of the average clothing budget goes on services that repair or lengthen the lifespan of our garments and accessories”. (Siegle, 9) She goes over how the more you buy fast fashion the higher the price and the cheaper the material will be. Ending up in the garbage and repeating the cycle of devastating effects on the

As globalisation brings in new and various products, counterfeit goods also spread quickly. This has a negative influence on local retailers and trademark owners by taking away part of their local market share, taking advantage of the designs of a brand’s

Gucci has trademarked more than 21 registered trademark which consist of the word “Gucci” and other symbols. Defendant Wang Huoqing who resides in China has register, establish, and at that time maintain more than 24 counterfeit goods website such as, bag2do.com, bagdo.com, ibagto.com, my4shop.com, and ebagdo.com. This websites offer counterfeit goods with Gucci marks and name on a significantly lower quality compared to the genuine counterparts.

In her 2010 TED talk, titled “Lessons from fashion’s free culture”, Johanna Blakely describes how the fashion industry’s lack of copyright and patent protection has allowed it to thrive in the economic market. This is mainly because designers have been able to recycle the same building blocks of fashion to create innovate, utilitarian designs into what we regard as art to adorn ourselves. In this talk, she urges other creative industries to adopt this concept.

“Aleah, that is so ugly,” my friends exclaimed as I eagerly pulled out my brand new pants from their perfectly packaged shipping box. “But they’re Michael Kors!” I argued, as though it increased their appeal. The truth was, the price tag read $78.00, and they were completely see through. Within society, there are numerous people who spend thousands of dollars on designer clothing that is not considered attractive street fashion or good quality. Often, the reason clothing is priced highly is because it includes a logo to advertise the brand and proclaim that it is “the cool thing to wear” while pressuring surrounding people to buy from the same designer as an attempt to become cool as well.

Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a

Lastly, cases outside the Sixth Circuit have ruled that products other than knockoffs can create downstream confusion. The courts in Lois Sportswear and Payless both are examples of cases where non-knockoff products created downstream confusion. Lois Sportswear, U.S.A., Inc. v. Levi Strauss & Co., 799 F.2d 867, 872 (2d Cir. 1986); Payless Shoesource, Inc. v. Reebok Int’l Ltd., 998 F.2d 985, 987 (Fed. Cir. 1993). In Lois Sportswear, the court explained that the confusion occurred when a consumer saw the familiar stitching pattern on the defendant’s jeans and associated “the jeans with appellee and that association influence[d] his buying decisions.” 799 F.2d at 872. The court makes no mention nor implies that the defendant’s jeans were a knockoff of plaintiff’s jeans. Similarly, in Payless, a case in the federal circuit, Reebok contended that “[post-sale] confusion occurs . . . when a consumer observes someone wearing a pair of Payless

Different forms of intellectual property protection have certain limitations on the time period they are in effect. The duration a patented design lasts is for 10 years. Fees are paid to make sure this protection remains. A registered design prevents third parties from utilizing the product for up to 25 years if it is renewed each five year period. Proof must be given that a person has created a design. These could be copies or photographic evidence of the design. The aspects of a design that are forbidden for use by others are the appearance, shape, arrangement and decoration. There are some criteria the design must meet in order for it to be protected. It must be new, not offensive, not contain already protected designs and is not

On May 30, 2000 The Calvin Klein family filed a lawsuit against Warnaco Group Inc for eighteen counts of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and intentional misrepresentation. Nearly a month later Warnaco answered with a counter suit, denying the major allegations and justifying the dilution to falling within the scope of the two parities licensing agreement. The case study brings forth information regarding fashion retailing, distribution practices and even the licensing practices expected within the marketplace, however as a reader one should keep in mind that during the millennium “licensing

The constantly spinning wheel of the fashion industry is just as disturbing. Brands are progressively getting more and more inexpensive, but are at the same time compromising the quality of the goods. Say you buy a discounted shirt from Top Shop because it was just “such an amazing deal”, and the thread holding it together falls apart after a few weeks. How likely are you to sew it up and fix it yourself? I bet you’d repeatedly just go out and purchase another cheaply made top to replace the last one. Low-cost materials used to make clothing ensure consumers are wedged in a repetitive cycle of buying and

If I were to pick my favorite hobby, it would have to be shopping. I know, sounds a little girly, but I love to shop online for clothes, accessories, sneakers, etc. My obsession started out with getting magazines delivered to my house, like Eastbay. Looking for the coolest pair of Jordan shorts or the newest pair of Nikes. I tend to think that my older brother is the one who got me interested in this hobby, seeing him and all of his friends in Jordan clothes made me want that to. Little did I know that this hobby would drag on and keep progressing into a more time ,and money consuming practice.

“Intellectual property is the area of law the deals with protecting the rights of those who create original works” (all law). Victoria’s Secret could file a suit under the

Just like other industry, clothing industry have different player involved, including the cybermediaries. And the two clothing

To those who are not familiar with the processes within the fashion industry, this world of style is characterized by a peaceful coexistence between all the stakeholders. To those in the know however, this is far from the truth with the fashion industry. The value of the United Kingdom fashion industry is large contributing to about 20 billion pounds into the country’s economy on an annual basis. To have a better understanding, the contribution made by the fashion industry to the country’s Gross Domestic Product is almost twice that being brought in by car manufacturers which is valued at 10.1 billion so fashion is no doubt a major business and clothing designs one of the core assets. In considering this, it is therefore a surprise that businesses that are operating within this industry within this industry are not given the opportunity to do more to protect the designs that they have. This paper puts forward the assertion that based on the case law of J Choo(Jersey) Limited v Towerstone Limited and Others, the system of intellectual property protection available in United Kingdom law is not fit for use in the fashion industry in its present condition.

Typically, these factories are located outside of the United States, and with cheap and readily available labor, the knockoff designs can be created in a matter of hours and shipped to stores months before the original version. These companies are able to replicate the original designs almost perfectly, and for much less money, as well. In turn, chain retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21 then purchase hundreds of these clothes and promptly sell them to consumers way before the original designs even have a chance to make their debut (Wilson). The biggest problem with this is that fashion design is an art form in itself, and with duplicates, the creative and original credit of the designers are lost. American consumers can no longer tell what garments in a store are original and which have been duplicated (“Stop Fashion Design Piracy”). From a moral perspective, this is essentially burying the recognition that independent designers deserve for their work.