Counterfeiters beware

The lack of legislation protecting the rights of fashion designers and their designs has long been a point of frustration. Copyright laws for fashion designs simply do not exist as they do for artwork and trademark logos. Members of the US fashion industry have therefore decided to take their case to Capitol Hill, where they lobbied on a bill that may change all that. Designer Nicole Miller, Harpers Bazaar’s editor in chief Glenda Bailey, and Valerie Salembier, senior vice president and publisher of Harpers Bazaar went to Washington DC on Wednesday, where they spoke with a number of senators and House members about the problem.

DC lawmakers are currently reintroducing the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, which protects designs for three years from the moment the law is enacted. For Miller and her fellow designers, this means that older designs – which many still use – are not protected from counterfeiters.

There are those, however, that feel that fashion should not be subjected to such laws, as it is a business that thrives on mutual inspiration that often borders on or is outright copying. As David Wolfe, creative director for Doneger Creative Services, told WWD when the bill was first introduced last year: “I think fashion is like a live reef – all creatures feed off of one another and that stimulates growth and movement.”