DATE: March 30, 2006
CONTACT: Kathryn Rexrode
GOODLATTE INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO COMBAT DESIGN PIRACY
WASHINGTON , DC – Today Congressman Bob Goodlatte introduced the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, H.R. 5055 . This bipartisan legislation provides copyright protections to fashion designs.
Most industrialized nations provide legal protection for fashion designs. However, in the United States – the world’s leader in innovation and creativity – fashion designs are not protected by traditional intellectual property protections. Copyrights are not granted to apparel because articles of clothing, which are both creative and functional, are considered “useful articles,” as opposed to works of art. Design patents are intended to protect ornamental designs, but clothing rarely meets the criteria of patentability. Trademarks only protect brand names and logos, not the clothing itself.
“As America’s fashion design industry continues to grow, America’s designers deserve and need the type of legal protections that are already available in other countries,” said Congressman Goodlatte. “I am pleased to introduce the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, which establishes these protections here in the U.S.”
The Design Piracy Prohibition Act protects designers by amending the Copyright Act to also include protections for fashion designs. Because the production life cycle for fashion designs is very short, this legislation similarly provides a tailored period of protection that suits the industry – three years. This legislation further establishes damages for infringing a fashion design at the greater of $250,000 or $5 per copy.
According to United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), counterfeiting merchandise, as a whole, is responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs and American companies lose between $200 and $250 billion in sales because of these counterfeit goods. Of the total worth of counterfeited domestic items commodities seized by the CBP in 2005, fashion items accounted for 38 percent.
“Fashion design is a $350 billion American industry. It is the only growth area in apparel manufacturing,” said Goodlatte. “In addition to the jobs directly related to the manufacturing of apparel, it creates jobs in many sectors: printing, trucking, distribution, advertising, publicity, merchandising, and retail. By protecting a designer’s original work we are also protecting the many jobs that support that design.”
“It is a very strange statement to see that in the U.S. the trademark is protected, but the model, the shape or the design itself can not be protected,” said Patrick Thomas, President & CEO of Hermes. “Our creative activity in fashion and accessories are of the same nature as the professional efforts put into developing movies, music or medicines.”
“As the design industries of America become an increasingly competitive force within the global fashion industry, our members’ creations are becoming even greater targets for design piracy,” said Steven Kolb, Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. “The theft of their original works is intolerable in today’s growing market and could severely damage both the individual and American brands.”
The Design Piracy Prohibition Act has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, of which Congressman Goodlatte is a member and is Vice-Chairman of the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Additionally, Congressman Goodlatte is co-chairman of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus.