The fashion industry is highly dynamic and that’s the beauty of it. But what keeps them motivated and protected? In this article we’ll discuss the different ways that help Fashion Companies enforce their IP rights.
Fashion designing is a branch of arts that focuses on producing clothing and other items for daily life. A person needs to be artistic and imaginative to work as a designer.
The ideas of fashion designers are translated into clothing, footwear and accessorise through their strong visual imagination.
Fashion designers demonstrate more than just an interest in learning new things by reading books, periodicals, and journals about the history of fashion design and current trends. They have to be aware of the demands of the fashion industry, including the necessity to safeguard their intellectual property (IP). The fashion business generates and commercially exploits innovative ideas and creativity on a regular basis.
In order to gain the competitive advantage needed for success in the fashion industry, creativity is not only confined to the act of designing but also encompasses the marketing of items, whether they are high fashion or every day wear.
The worth of the fashion business is ultimately determined by all of this intellectual property connected to a distinctive brand. However, many companies, particularly those in the fashion industry, fail to protect their intellectual property. Because the IP regulations are so permissive, designers frequently “steal” ideas from one another in a sector that earns hundreds of billions of dollars annually and prides itself on creativity and aspiration. Business managers must quickly recognize these important intangible assets, as well as their business’s needs and relevance, and progress on them to protect their rights and use the leverage efficiently.
Fashion Design and IPR
The fashion industry is rife with plagiarism, but the consequences are particularly severe for up-and-coming designers for whom every sale is crucial. Gary Assim, partner and intellectual property specialist at the London legal firm shoosmiths, stated that imitations do “double damage.”
“First of all, it deprives the designer of the sales revenue from his or her product, which frequently represents the return on a sizeable investment in research and development.”
Additionally, it deprives the designer of the proper credit as the original developer.
A clothes designer’s legal rights might be advantageous in two different ways:
Protection: They can prevent someone from utilizing your product or textile without your consent, and they can prevent others from profiting from your labor.
Exploitation: By enabling you to enter into licensing agreements for your designs with third parties, they can make money off of your creations.
IP rights cover more than merely preventing copying. They might be seen as serving a more subdued purpose, namely identifying the material producer. Fashion firms can go to the next level of sophistication where they are proactively managing their IP rights separately from their business operations by taking a more media and entertainment industry-inspired strategy.
Fashion designers have access to a wide range of rights under intellectual property law. Some of these will develop naturally, like copyright, while others, like trademark registration, ask for registration.
How is IPR relevant to the fashion industry?
The fact is that IPR and fashion are inseparable. The designs that are regarded as fashions are the result of an individual’s intellectual inventions, and the law of our country aims to preserve those creations by granting them an exclusive right to use those creations and to be exploited for financial gain.
The legal system attempts to foster creativity by encouraging more people to come up with ideas that may ultimately fuel the expansion of an economy by adhering to the same premise.
The country will suffer severe losses if the aforementioned rules are ineffective in protecting creativity since no one will step forward to develop and no new works of art will be produced. As a result, it is possible to see the strong connection between IPR and fashion. The Trademark Act, Copyright Act, Designs Act, and Geographical Indication of Goods Act are just a few of the several laws that aim to safeguard the intellectual property rights associated with works produced by the fashion industry.
One effective way through which fashion companies enforce their IP rights is through registration. In fact, registered IP can be a valuable commercial asset.
A registered IP not just instills a right that can be enforced against infringement, but also provides an exclusive right that allows one to use the design and authorizes how other people may use the same, as specified in the registration. Just like any other asset, a registered intellectual property in the fashion industry, in the future, grows and can be sold too.
The legal protection of IP rights provides designers, artists, business people, entrepreneurs, and inventors with the exclusive right to use and control, and therefore profit from, their intellectual and creative work. IP is a very valuable asset for those in the design industry and an important differentiating factor between one designer and the next.
What is protected under IPR for Fashion Industry?
Types of IP Protection | What is Protected? | Explanation | What Are The Terms of Protection? |
Two and three-dimensional product designs (e.g. the texture of a fabric, or the shape of a skirt) | A product's functionality is not protected, only its external looks are. The registered design or the look of the whole or part of a product arising from the feature of, in particular, the lines, contour, colors, shape, texture, and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation, has the exclusive right to use, sell, or license to the owner. | Your design is originally protected by registration for ten years from the date of application or from the date of priority claimed. The design registration may be renewed for an additional five years. | |
Artistic Work, Literary Work, Music, Cinematographic films, etc | Ideas themselves are not protected; only the owner's creative expression of the ideas is. The copyrighted work may only be used, sold, or licensed by the owner. | A creative work's copyright is valid for 60 years following the author's passing. But if the artistic work is commercialized, mostly in the case of fashion industry, the same is not protected under copyright act. | |
Letters, numbers, words, colors, a phrase, sounds, scents, logos, shapes, pictures, aspects of packaging or any combination of the above-mentioned. | Trademark distinguishes a trader's specific goods or services from those of other traders. The trademark may only be used, sold, or licensed by the owner. | As long as the renewal payments are paid every ten years, a trademark is first registered for a ten-year period and remains so eternally. | |
Inventions | A patent safeguards an invention's operation or use. The invention's owner has the sole right to make use of, sell, or license it. | For all types of inventions, the patent is valid for 20 years from the date of filing. |
Infringement of IPR and Remedies Available to Fashion Companies
Infringement in layman terms can be said to be unauthorized use or commercialization of someone else’s Intellectual property. The term unauthorized means use by someone who isn’t the proprietor or the permitted user of the Intellectual property.
But the definition, grounds and remedies against infringement varies depending upon the Intellectual property who’s right is being violated.
Though broadly specifying there are two types of remedies:
1. Civil : where the aggrieved can take-
• injunction against the infringer
• compensation
• delivery up of infringing products
2. Criminal: where the infringer is penalized by way of penalty or imprisonment (as stated in copyright and trademark laws).
The ability to register allows fashion innovators to stop the exploitation or misuse of any original concepts, elements, or products. Designs and trends receive significant investment, which is subsequently shared with the public in order to boost their appeal and grow business operations.
Although the registration process is costly and time-consuming, it must be availed in order to prevent dishonest rivals from gaining monetary advantage because of such dishonest acts.
Naseem Sheikh is a trademark enthusiastic and has been practicing in intellectual property law for close to six years.