Copying: A Trendy Bill Now On The Hill, Part 3

The two main spokesman speaking out against the Design Piracy Act favored by designers and the CFDA (and currently working its way through Congress), turn out not to be executives from Forever 21 (currently being sued by Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B), but two legal scholars. Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman have just published an article in the New Republic saying that the bill could kill the need for innovation that feeds the ever-changing fashion cycles. Longer versions of their thoughts and research are here and, even longer, here.

In previous posts, I sided with them and against designers. In speaking with executives at the large fashion houses supporting the bill, I learned that they consider the protections offered under the U.S. act to be equal to those that already exist in Europe. Of course in Europe, loser pays costs which helps to limit the number of frivolous lawsuits. And this year we've seen Jimmy Choo and others successfully take on copycats this year in the UK. Copycats, people not making exact replicas, but things just close enough. So won't this bill lead to an onslaught of lawsuits in the U.S.? Fashion execs say the costs of litigating here means no one goes to court unnecessarily. Yeah, OK. Who buys that? I still say to designers: It is better to innovate than legislate.