Fashion-Forward IP Bill Introduced
[Where's Heidi Klum when you need her? It would be more fitting for the German-accented Project Runway host to guest-blog this post, but you're stuck with me.]
Reps. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., introduced legislation on Wednesday to provide copyright protections to fashion designs. Most industrialized nations provide legal safeguards for designers' work but in the U.S., they are not protected by traditional intellectual property law.
Copyrights are not granted to apparel because articles of clothing, which are both creative and functional, are considered “useful articles,” as opposed to works of art, according to a press release from Goodlatte's office. Design patents are intended to protect ornamental designs, but clothing rarely meets the criteria of patentability.
The measure would amend the Copyright Act to also include protections for fashion designs. Since the life cycle for designs is so short, the bill would protect them for three years. The bill further establishes damages for infringing a fashion design at about $5 per copy.
“Fashion design is a $350 billion American industry. It is the only growth area in apparel manufacturing,” Goodlatte said in a statement. "By protecting a designer’s original work we are also protecting the many jobs that support that design.”
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