BUSINESS MODEL AND INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY ASSIGNMENT

BY: AVIRAL JAIN, SNEHA GUPTA, TANUSHREE SHRIVASTAVA, TANVI SINGLA

IPR IN FASHION INDUSTRY

Intellectual property right is sine-quo-nun aspect of the fashion industry. Fashion designers generate innovative and creative ideas that are the pillars of strength for the industry. These creative ideas may last for a lifetime and some of them may come and go momentarily. When it comes to fashion industry, intellectual capital is invested in each creation. Protecting such intellectual assets transfers the owners of competition for businesses as designers are able to generate significant bottom line and top line, if their IPR’s are protected.

As per the law, innovation and invention in the fashion industry can be protected through trademarks, design rights, patents and copyrights. These IPR’s caters exclusivity to the designer’s creations and provide rights to exploit their ideas.

These rights prevent fashion piracy and counterfeiters from taking undue advantage from the hard work of others. In this dynamic environment where changes are pervasive, fashion designers need to be innovative and keep reinventing to overcome the face off.

EXAMPLES:

ZARA uses proprietary information technology system for the production cycle. It helps them to shorten the time period of cycle. It takes 30 days to identify a new trend to deliver the finished product. The other companies take from 4 to 12 months. It is considered as important trade secret in fashion industry.

Gucci America, Inc. v. Guess Inc.

The Gucci sued Guess asserting that they have imitated certain protected features of its product like red-green-red stripe and its logos.

In the above self- made diagram, we can clearly see the use of different intellectual property rights e.g. copyright, trademark and design rights. The design on dress, shoes and hat is protected by copyright. The ‘LV’ sign on the purse denotes the brand Louis Viton and how trademark helps in differentiating one brand from the other. The design of earrings, necklace is protected by the trade design rights.

Different IPR’s:

Design rights

Design rights are important intellectual property rights in the fashion industry. They are a prerequisite in protecting the appearance of a product – the look, design or the structure of the main product can be ensured such as clothing, handbags, footwear and accessory designs. An unregistered design will be viewed as new if no indistinguishable design has been made accessible to the general public before the date on which the designer is claiming the protection. A design is considered to have individual character if the overall impression of the informed consumers differs from the overall impression by any design available to the public before it was available.

Branding and trademark

Huge design houses esteem their image value. Most build up a bond with their clients through their image names and secure these through enlistment of trademarks and insurance of related fine art by copyright law. Trademarks are just as important for a small or start-up company in the fashion

industry. Trademark helps organizations in separating and situating their item in the business sector. Shoppers' buying choices are affected by trademarks and the notoriety such brands speak to.

Patents

Patents may not instantly spring to mind when we have to consider the fashion industry. Yet technical innovation can equally put a fashion business ahead of the competition and differentiate. A strong portfolio of patents may, for example, reflect technical superiority in inventing new fabrics that don't wrinkle, or are gentler, or more climate safe, and so on. Such a patent portfolio could draw in business accomplices or speculators.

Trade secrets and new business models

In some fashion businesses, core trade secrets serve to ensure the computer-implemented, software-based business model clarifying the whole business procedure based on speed and stealth to supply a limited quantity of fashion products.

Customers can design and order apparel directly from the virtual shop. The business depends on exclusive programming, which is ensured as a competitive innovation and by copyright law.

If another competitive business got a hold of any of these items, it could cause an organisation to lose market share and dominance, further allowing the other organisation to capture some of their business.

Copyrights

Copyright is another way designers can protect their designs. It helps in protecting the expression of idea. Specifically, fabric prints are considered to be an important subject of copyright law for the pictorial and graphic elements. Recently in few years, copyrights in fabric prints, or the infringement thereof, have been of increasing concern. Some fashion companies exactly reproduce fabric patterns designed by others on a regular basis.

In the above picture, we can see that the infringing of fabric print can be done very easily and therefore it is important to protect the designs by choosing a strong portfolio of intellectual property.

Copying/infringement:

As illustrated in the above Diagram

The fashion industry has been plagued by copying of design logo and the product design. These are

Counterfeits Knockoffs

Design copying also called as Knock offs is no less than a crime because it steals the creator’s right to obtain the special privileges. While copying of brand logo also called as Knockoffs is a simple breach of logo or label as the credibility is built on the logo only in the fashion industry.

The fashion design piracy occurs when there is an infringement of both the concepts, i.e., the design logo and the product design.

Protection available to designs in India :

(A)Designs which are capable of being registered under the Designs Act,2000(1) If registered:

(a)Protection under the Designs Act, 2000 (as per Section 15(1) of the copyright act and Section 11 of the Design Act :

(i)Nature and scope of protection: copyrights in registered design: exclusive rights to apply design to any article in any class in which the design is registered.

(ii)Term of protection: 20 years from the date of registration. It is extendable for a period of 5 years.

(b)Protection under the Copyright Act, 1957 (as per section 15(2) of the copyright Act):

(i)Nature and scope of protection: Copyright in design gives an exclusive right to apply design to any article.

(ii)Term of protection: Up to 50th reproduction by a process which is industrial of the article to which the design has been applied.

(B)Designs not capable of being registered under the Designs Act,2000 but are original artistic works:

Protection under the Copyright Act, 1957(as per Section 23 of the Copyright Act):

(a)Nature and scope of protection: Copyright is original artistic work which gives an exclusive right to do or authorise doing of any of the acts as mentioned in Section 14(c) of the copyright act.

(b) Terms of protection: lifetime of the author plan: 60 years

CONCLUSION

The global fashion industry has significantly grown in the last few years. It has become an indispensable part of the global economy and thus requires intellectual property rights protection for its growth. Fresh and New Designs are cynosure for the Fashion Industry. However, design piracy has marred the industry’s growth. As per research and data available, IPR laws are not stringent enough to protect Indian Fashion Industry. There is need to ameliorate the current laws and simplified procedures for design registration to safeguard the interest of creators and inventors in the industry.

From a recent speech made by Infosys co-founder N R Narayan Murthy, "Is there one invention from India that has become a household name in the globe? Is there one technology that has transformed the productivity of global corporations? Is there is one idea that has led to an earth-shaking invention to delight global citizens? Folks, the reality is that there is no such contribution from India in the last sixty years”,

It can be concluded that India lacks in framing enough government policies and R&D investment is minimal as compared to other global economies like US and China.

Incorporation of all these suggestions would certainly make the current Indian Intellectual property regime in the fashion industry more effective and efficient enough to deal with the jeopardy of fashion design piracy and hence the fashion designers will be encouraged and will ultimately lead to the growth of the fashion industry.