Title: The fashion issue – an examination of the current intellectual property rights within England and Wales and the European Community, concerning design infringement and counterfeit goods within the fashion industry: part one

Authors: Selma Jaber

Addresses: Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 84 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5, Canada

Abstract: The copying of fashion and graphic designs has been ongoing for years. More designers are beginning to assert their exclusive rights, granted through the available intellectual property rights. These mainly include design rights and trademarks. It is necessary to see how law of England and Wales can be applied effectively to protect this cyclical and transient industry, and the areas where it may be improved. This will be achieved through an analysis of the recent leading judicial decisions on this area of law, as well as a comparison between the domestic design rights compared to the community design rights. Due to the generality of some of the terms used in the legislation wider reading into other jurisdictions such as the USA and France will provide further insight into how this particular area of law can be improved.

Keywords: registered designs; design rights; unregistered designs; European Council; European Community; European Union; EU; EC Regulations; fashion industry; clothes; clothing; fashions; counterfeit goods; secondary infringement; trademarks; informed users; intellectual property rights; UK; United Kingdom; Europe; England; Wales; copying; graphic design; designers; exclusive rights; trademarks; cyclical industries; transient industries; judicial decisions; case law; jurisdictions; United States; USA; France; legislative acts; statutes; legislation; Proctor & Gamble; Reckitt Benckiser; copyright; Karen Millen; Dunnes Stores; Ireland; Jimmy Choo; Towerstone; liability; scientific enquiry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSE.2012.045530

International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry, 2012 Vol.5 No.1, pp.46 - 63

Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

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