Authors

Jessica Rosen, Golden Gate University School of Law

Article Title

The Inability of Intellectual Property to Protect the New Fashion Designer: Why the ID3PA Should Be Adopted

Abstract

This Comment argues that Congress should adopt legislation that affords copyright protection to new fashion designers. The present state of the intellectual property regime leaves a new designer without any legal protection against blatant copying and can easily result in the designer’s business demise. Part I of this Comment provides a brief background of copyright law, as well as other doctrines of intellectual property law, and the limited protection these doctrines provide for fashion designs. Part I also explains how the limited protections afforded to fashion designs vis-à-vis intellectual property law are rarely, if ever, applicable to the new designer. Part II provides a more thorough history of the predecessor bills discussed above, including the recent ID3PA (Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act) and IDPA, and explains why the IDPA ignores the needs of the new fashion designer. Part III claims that common arguments by those against the adoption of the ID3PA and future proposed legislation, including increased and frivolous litigation, are unwarranted. Ultimately, the enactment of the ID3PA or similar legislation would ensure a level playing field for new designers and the possibility that they too can realize the American Dream.

Recommended Citation

Jessica Rosen, The Inability of Intellectual Property to Protect the New Fashion Designer: Why the ID3PA Should Be Adopted, 43 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 327 (2013).
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggulrev/vol43/iss2/6