Ars Technica: Fashion designs aren't eligible for copyright protection. If one designer's work captures the imagination of consumers, other designers are free to slavishly copy it without getting permission or paying compensation.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is determined to change that. He represents New York City, home to some of the nation's leading fashion houses. And he has introduced the latest iteration of an idea that has been floating around Congress since at least 2006: to extend copyright protection to clothing designs. Last month, the Innovative Design Protection Act was approved by a Senate Committee. To become law, it must be approved by the full Senate and the House of Representatives.
13 comments:
Although I understand the desire for copyright protection in the fashion industry, I think it would do more damage then good. There was an article a few weeks ago about copyright problems in the theater and one a month ago or so about smartphones. It seems to me this would very quickly devolve into one of those situations. With the smartphone article, Apple has obtained a patent on smart phones with a button at the bottom and rounded edges. I think if copyright law was brought to the fashion industry it would become more about law then design. All the largest companies would hire lawyers to do exactly what apple did, and the system would collapse. I sincerely hope this does not get passed.
Like Isaac, I see why this idea came about but I think it is a really bad one. First of all there is no such thing as a "new" idea in fashion. Everything, that could possibly be designed has already been designed in one way or another, and we are always recycling designs and ideas from the past even when we don't realize it. I understand how it can be frustrating, like in the case with Kate's dress, but if we stick a copyright law on to fashion designs we will run into so many brick walls we just might as well put the entire industry out of business. Plus no matter how hard you try you can never exactly copy a design, either the fabric, or the color, or some detail will be different even if the majority of the public doesnt knotice it.
I agree that this is not a good idea. Fashion is so determined by the times and the public opinion that it would be hard to keep up with what exact styles are copyrighted. I still believe the logos should stay under the law (but I believe that already have been). I agree with April that no one has a completely new idea, anywhere in the world, let alone in the in fashion. Designers would be stuck and would have to be careful where and who they draw inspiration from, which is creatively stunting.
I'm on the same boat- I completely agree. At first I was kind of happy to hear that preserving and protecting a designer's fashion intent might be happening, but the more I read, the more I realized that fashion isn't exactly the same s I once considered. We are all humans and most of us prefer to wear clothes. We generally are of similar sizes, generally wearing similar articles of clothing. Its convenient that way. There is only so much knit-picking you can do, if clothes became copyrighted there are only SO many ways to cover up the human body without being illogical. It just wouldn't work, it would create more hassle than help. I understand the integrity part of not wanting to have designs copied, but sometimes theres just no way about getting around it- its al about fads, culture, time era, all of which include lots of people. It ties us together. In an ideal world, it would be cool if every single costume/ garment/ design had a crazy shape, color and texture, all completely unrelated to each other- but what would that say about the context of our world, of our time? Not much. It would be crazy and interesting in the short term, but mean little in the unity of a generation. We are all humans, and sometimes we like being dressed in great, simple, flattering ways, that might in fact be similar. I think that copyright should not be held over any designer, BUT I so believe that it is important to credit the true innovators, and thinkers of fashion, whether or not their ideas were inspired by history, the future- anything. We need to make note of the original designers, we cannot, however, do this by holding copyright over the heads of others.
Though I agree that fashion is a creative industry, I also agree that extending copyright protections to the industry will open a pandoras box of litigation unless the system as a whole is fixed at the same time as extending additional rights. I do think the nuances of this copyright proposal are interesting- the 3 week grace period, 3 year length of copyright, and the substantially identical requirement. Those might make this viable, however they complicate an already complex copyright law. This would add another branch to a broken system, even if the branch might work well. I do think, however, that that kind of progressive copyright law for this industry might serve as a prototype for future sweeping copyright changes across all industries. Its moving in the direction that technology and innovation require. Good luck to Senator Schumer with this......
I don't think that I have a final opinion on this as yet. On one had I semi-agree with what everyone else who has commented thus far in saying that implementing copyrights to runway designs will just bring more harm than good. However on the other hand I think you can have copyrights, but with limitations. Fashion has been around forever, and designers draw on inspirations from other designers and historical research of costume designs for their new collections and seasons. Fashion is cyclical, and is at a stage where nothing can be called completely original, due to the fact that it has been designed and constructed before. Not by the same people, but it has been done. Yes designers may argue that their design is different because of their intricate detail or cut, however those are all elements of some other style aren't they? I think that the only way that copyrights laws should be applied to runway fashion is in the form of payments to the designers whose "original" runway garment has been copied and re-designed for mass commercial resale by another entity. I somehow always thought that companies had to pay designers a fee in order to produce knock offs of their work. I am amazed that this isn't done. This is one thing that I think should be implemented due to the fact that companies saying that you will look 90% identical to Kate in this dress gets them tons of sales and these sales are all thanks to the "original" designers.
I completely agree with Jamilia. I think that there should be some copy right. Those designers have the right to be protected. I can see what everyone else is saying, but they deserve something.
This reminds me of the music industry in the fact that they want you to pay for the real music from iTunes or cd stores, or wherever you Buy your music, but there are places you can get the songs for free, even if they are a worse quality.
This seems like a great idea, but I think that we should read carefully. Designers borrow and are influenced by each other and the sense of original identity is easily lost along the way. In order for this to be successful, it is necessary to take great caution when writing the law and make sure that it is clearly labeled and defined to what extent a designer has ownership over their idea and how it is used by other designers.
I agree with what Issac says about how large companies will hire lawyers to sue little companies in a way that would be overly advantageous to one side. However, I understand what other side of view tries to argue. Copying clothes in an exact same way just as what happened to Kate Middleton's dress is totally wrong and should be punished in my perspective because it is Sarah Burton's own idea and creation. Just as a masterwork of art is credited solely to one artist, I believe that should be done in same way to fashion design since nothing is different from fashion design and art. So, intruding that own vision will be definitely unlawful act. Nowadays, since more fake clothes for famous brands are creating, I believe it is impossible to stop that act of copying completely. Therefore, if the law for protection is to be made, I believe that there should be strict restriction or regulation in terms of how much of copying is illegal or not.
I feel that copyright protection is not a good idea in any way. I feel that if a graphic is to be used that is copyrighted a fee should be paid(collegiate, sports, brands, etc.) I think the fashion industry has thrived on its own for several hundred years and copyrights would just complicate things. What exactly would be copyrighted? A dyeing technique? Colors? I think that this is an extremely limiting idea for designers as well as consumers if colors become off limits how will designers choose colors, designs, etc.?
Okay well I agree with everyone else, but I also didn't realize that fashion designs couldn't be copyrighted now... To me it makes a lot of sense that they should be copyrighted. After all, the designer spent countless hours to create the item, so I believe that they should be able to maintain credit for designing it. But now thinking about it more, and reading everyone else's comments, it does seem to be a very bad idea as well. Fashion changes all the time, and as April said, nothing is ever NEW fashion. Therefore it's impossible to copyright fashion designs. Also like April said, you can never truly duplicate a design. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much of a perfect answer here... it'll be interesting to see how it plays out politically!
I can sympathize with both sides here. On one end, you've got fashion designers that are producing new products and deserve recognition for their designs. On the other hand, they could very well be contributing to a wave of new ideas expressed in a creative medium which could collectively change what people wear for the time period. Also, what about designer's brand names? Isn't that a form of copyright?
This is an interesting article that made me contemplate a subject I had not before. Since I am not a customer and have never designed clothes in my life at all, I do not think I have ever thought about this type of thing before. While I agree that fashion designers should have at least some protection over their original designs, it is true that this would limit the fashion design world greatly, probably doing more damage to the creativity that lives and exists in that world than it would do good, or help to grow creativity. Other art, like music or illustration, graphic design as well, is a little easier to put concrete bounds on. Costuming, like lighting or product design is a little different because copyright would limit these disciplines to the extreme. Maybe it is better to leave things as they are.
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