Much to the chagrin of most fashion designers, the United States is lacking a statutory scheme for protecting apparel designs, comparable to protection offered in Europe. Copyright law only offers protection for fabric patterns, trademark law protects logos on the apparel item, and prosecution time for a design patent ordinarily exceeds the lucrative first few months of a fashion design's lifespan. With advent of the Internet, photographs of new designs from fashion shows immediately make their way to overseas manufacturers who can produce a full line of knock-offs before the originals hit the market.
A bill is now circulating in the Senate that would amend U.S. copyright law to specifically provide protection to the overall appearance and ornamentation of apparel articles. Under this bill, entitled the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, "apparel" would be defined broadly to include: an article of men's, women's, or children's clothing, including undergarments, outer-wear, gloves, footwear, and headgear; handbags, purses and tote bags; belts; and eyeglass frames. Registrations on apparel designs would have a three-year registration term and infringement of the registration would be assessed under the same standard existing under current copyright laws, namely substantial similarity in overall appearance. Statutory damages awards for infringement of a registered original design would increase to the greater of an amount not exceeding $250,000 or $5 per infringing article.
The proposed legislation requires that the application for registration of the design is made no later than three months after the date on which the design was first made public.
As with most new bills, this one will likely go through many iterations and drafts as it proceeds through Congress on its way to becoming law.
Vol. 53, June 2010