Design Piracy…. A Reality Check

“Design Piracy…A Reality Check” was the aptly named and very fascinating discussion and panel put on by the California Fashion Association at the California Market Center this last Tuesday.  The panel was moderated by Ilse  Metchek, President of the California Fashion Association.  The panelists included:

• Janine Blain, Vice President, West Coast office of Directives West
• Brian Weitman, CEO of STC-QST LLC
• Stacy Riordan, Attorney and Chair at Fashion Law Practice Group

All panelists bantered intelligently – and surprisingly – against the Design Piracy Protection Act (aka DPPA).

So, what is a design piracy reality check?  And what is it a reaction against?

Since fashion and fashion design is all about taking ideas from the past and re-envisioning them for today, the big question on the table is: are designs considered art or a business decision? And with that, do we have free reign to copy, emulate, and re-interpret what we see?  And who draws the lines between copies, emulations and creative re-interpretations?

What can be copied? What cannot?  Do we even have enough money in the government to truly regulate something on such a mass scale?

With a bill on the table, and at the lips of the Washington masses, the DPPA is really causing a fashion stir.   With a power player like Diane von Furstenberg behind the act, this protection of fashion designers and companies from people stealing their original ideas has a dark side and some serious repercussions.   As voiced by this strongly (and necessarily) opinionated panel, this bill could be essentially the death of the American fashion business if it is passed.

Under the DPPA, businesses big and small must file a piracy claim the same way.  The piracy claim must be filed within three months of the product being on the floor and can be protected up to 3 years.  Damages for such piracy can be up to $250,000 or $5 a copy.

Sounds great right? Protect the designers; it seems like a good idea, but it’s more complicated than that.

First,  the designers need to send in paperwork to copyright their “designs”. Who exactly, then, can lay claim to designing a sheath dress?  It’s something that dates back to the 1940s and 50s.

The bottom line is this: whoever has the money to pay the copywriting fee, and the best lawyer to handle that paperwork fast enough will be the big winner here.  So it might end up that nobody will be able to design a sheath without paying royalties.  Sounds absurd.

In this day and age, what is truly unique anymore?  Fashion is being designed, redesigned and then redesigned again. Styles, silhouettes, color stories, and details can all be traced back to the days of yesteryear — dating back even before the emergence of the first couturier, Charles Worth.   So how can anybody take claim to a design detail?  But the DPPA would authorize such claims.

As Brian Weitman put it, the whole design industry could essentially be put in a standstill.  Before a designer designs something, he or she would have to research whether any part of the garment has been copyrighted or considered owned by somebody else.  And there is no establishment capable of handling this on such a mass scale.  A very simple detail can be “owned” by somebody else and without proper research,  designers will have to pay the price for their designs.

In the end, the designers and manufactures end up paying a huge price:  they will be paralyzed and will not be able to design. Furthermore, the financial ramifications to each business will be massive.  Apparel businesses are already getting hit hard, and this could be the final blow.

But as we all know, fashion finds a way around the obstacles.  If American designers / manufactures cannot produce a garment because it falls under the reigns of this new potential law, retailers will just go to China.  The American owned fashion business as we know it could meet a very untimely death.

Having worked in this hardworking, seemingly unstoppable and incredible industry, that just breaks my heart.

Guest Post By Laurie Brucker

About The Author: Laurie Brucker is a certified image consultant and emerging musician celebrity stylist working in Los Angeles, California. The former New York fashion designer moved to the West Coast to pursue a career in professional image consulting in the music industry. Brucker current writes The Laurie B Style Files and has written for numerous fashion blogs, the Examiner and Stylesight.com.

Illustration By: Christian David Moore