This source includes the Design Piracy Protection Act itself as well as a comprehensive analysis of it by the LawNexis community. They have very methodically split their argument into three parts: questioning of whether the legal community needs to step in and protect fashion designs, whether analyzing the bill and whether it is right or the issue and finally suggesting changes to the bill that would improve fashion design protection. This source is a very interesting analysis of the ongoing legal processes and it makes audiences look at the issue from a very unique point of view. It questions whether supporting this act would be indirectly supporting an industry that may be exploiting labor or has the ability of being a key player in the human rights movement. Another interesting question it raises is whether this new protection will lead to new standards of protection or simply discourage protection to ‘non traditional’ subject matter. The statement believes that the fashion industry is in a crucial place and has the ability to become a good influence in the spectrum against human trafficking. An interesting aspect of this statement is when they bring up the matter in relation with the US economy. The fashion industry can be associated with outsourcing jobs as they produce a lot of goods in countries that have cheap labor and then cheaply import them into the US. They question whether the fashion industry can show the economic impact.

Laura Tyson was the last  Dean of the London Business School, and author of the Tyson report which is the Economic Analysis of the Proposed CACP Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative, prepared for the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP).  This source uses this report to discuss the act. To quote her, “If we are to persuade our trading partners to adopt best practices to stop the export of illicit product to market, we must show that we are implementing these practices ourselves. With the advancement of technologies and the internet, piracy and counterfeiting has been made very easy. During fashion shows, people take dozens of photos and designs, manufacture them cheaply and flood the market with them. Trademark laws make it impossible to copy the exact same design but it is legal to copy the pattern or print on an item of clothing. The Tyson report states that the fashion industry is a $350 billion dollar industry and counterfeiting causes $12 billion dollars in damages. This may be in the form of lower sales of original designs and lack of jobs. Another issue that Tyson brings up is that this Act gives privileges to an elitist group and the point of this Act should be to protect smaller designers too. They are the ones who are most affected- they can’t even establish themselves properly as they fall prey to piracy which weakens their original sales.

This source is very important for my paper for not only is it a neutral source but it also brings to light a different angle relating to the issue. The Tyson Report is crucial in understanding the economic effects of piracy and counterfeiting. A point that I will talk about in my paper is the link mentioned between human rights, outsourcing and the effects of giving protection to the fashion industry.