Raustiala, Kal and Christopher Sprigman. The Piracy Paradox: Innovation and Intellectual Property in Fashion Design. Research Paper No. 06-04.     UCLA School of Law. January 2006. http://ssrn.com/abstract=878401.

The piracy paradox includes discussion on the “innovation and intellectual property in fashion design.” The piracy paradox essay is the most recent document expanding on the issue of fashion protection. While other articles in the past have brought up one side of the debate, mainly the importance of changing existing laws to protect fashion designs, this article goes into great depth about both sides of the argument.  The fashion industry’s principle creative element is outside the domain of IP law. This article asks a very important question, “Why is copying in the fashion industry treated so differently from copying in other creative industries?” The author goes on to argue that copyright fails to deter innovation in the fashion industry because copying is not harmful to originators. Also, it explains how copyright functions as an important element of the apparel industry’s “swift cycle of innovation.” Another question answered is to what degree are IP rights necessary in particular industries to induce investment in innovation?  The article is divided into three parts which include: a brief overview of the apparel industry, induced obsolescence and anchoring, and lastly, the broader implications of the fashion case.

Designs are frequently copied by retailers, such as H&M, which offers cheap copies of expensive fashion. Copying isn’t limited to retailers; magazines continually show examples of “splurge vs. steal” outfits. Also, copying is not limited to fashion as well, art, music, dance, and film are copied all the time but there are protections in place to protect an author’s work. The article talks about the new technologies which allow for the faster replication of fashion designs which leads to the swift cycle of innovation. Designers have to create new works at an even quicker pace nowadays to keep up with the current trends and create new trends in which people will want to buy. Even though the fashion industry has remained unaffected by the lack of protection, there is a standard IP theory which predicts that extensive copying will eventually destroy the incentive for innovation. This is one of the reasons lawmakers have been pushing to create some form of fashion design protection recently. This article is a great source for current, up-to-date information about the fashion piracy debate. Many important issues are brought up including, moving forward with fashion, the positive and negative impacts of fashion piracy protection, all of which are useful for my final paper in discussing what is the best method of protection and is it a viable solution. The explanation of the place of IP protection in fashion design and instances where copyright protection will beneficial is relevant to my final paper. This paper is defines the different processes in the fashion world and helps to clarify the important roles played in the one-day inclusion of fashion design into copyright legislature.