Abstract
The complexity of fashion designs goes far beyond what is currently trending in Vogue. Intellectual property laws should seek to provide designers with an opportunity to completely protect their work, as well as ensure that fashion designers’ designs will not be replicated and sold for a fraction of the price. Inherent limitations with alternate forms of intellectual property protection emphasize the need for a bright-line rule for copyright protection over fashion designs. To best protect new designers and small brands within the U.S. fashion industry, there must be a standard that explicitly includes and defines accessibility to copyright protection for fashion designs. Developing a well-understood rule for copyright protection that can be consistently and unambiguously applied would grant many designers within the U.S. fashion industry an opportunity that they may never otherwise be able to obtain, simply because of the size and scope of fast fashion. Additionally, there would be copious benefits to the global environment and the national economy. Therefore, in order to promote the continued success and future evolution of fashion design within the United States, a bright-line rule must be established and dependably applied to cases regarding copyright protection in the fashion industry.
Recommended Citation
Anna Huttner,
Overdressed & Underprotected: The Not-So Glamorous Side of the United States Fashion Industry Without Explicit Copyright Protection,
70 Clev. St. L. Rev.
363
(2022)
available at https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol70/iss2/9