Recently, fashion law has begun to gain international attention both in India and elsewhere. Despite not yet having a set statute in India, it covers a number of legal areas, including corporate law, labor law, consumer protection, intellectual property law, and environmental law. In the modern day, fashion law is crucial since it helps safeguard designers’ rights, ensure that they adhere to ethical labor standards, and stop unethical economic practices.
Why need Fashion Law?
The primary goal of fashion law’s engagement in the Indian fashion industry is to safeguard designers’ rights and provide them a sense of individuality and inventiveness. Traditional Indian textiles like Kanchipuram, Pashmina shawls, and Banarasi silk are becoming more and more well-known abroad, which presents the Indian fashion sector with a number of difficulties and barriers, including design piracy, counterfeiting, labor exploitation, and environmental issues.
The primary obstacles that this sector may encounter include:
- Consumer Protection: Many deceptive and subpar products are being offered to customers nowadays. By monitoring such illegal marketing and safeguarding potential customers, fashion law aids in the fight against such problems.
- Fair Labor Practices: The fashion sector employs a large number of workers, which occasionally may result in unfair labor practices. In these situations, labor law is crucial in protecting workers’ rights and giving them a sense of security.
- Protecting Creativity: The primary concern in the creative industry is the fear of copying; here is where intellectual property enters the picture and protects designers’ rights to preserve their originality and authenticity.
Intellectual property Rights in Fashion Law
Fashion law heavily relies on intellectual property to prevent exploitation and copying of their designs and styles. The fashion sector in India can rely on a number of intellectual property rights (IPRs), such as patents, designs, trademarks, copyrights, and geographical indications.
Trademark Laws:
Trademarks are mostly used for distinctive words, designs, or symbols that help distinguish one brand from another by preserving their originality and distinctiveness. Fashion firms can protect their names, logos, and packaging by using trademarks.
To register, one must follow a methodical process that takes eight to twelve months to finish. Once registered, one’s rights are valid for ten years, with the possibility of renewal. Trademarks help to boost consumer trust, increase brand value, and offer the brand market awareness.
In the case of Christian Louboutin SAS v. Pawan Kumar (2017) it was held that the Christian Louboutin was a registered owner of the ‘RED SOLE’ and hence anyone using the same for their own gain in monetary or market recognition was held liable.
Design Protection
Design protection is the process of preserving a product’s beautiful shape, pattern, or design. The Design Act of 2000 governs all of these matters. In the realm of fashion and brands, design protection is crucial since visual appeal is crucial. The full registration process takes four to six months, and the rights are valid for ten years with a five-year one-time extension. Even though it offers many benefits, it also has drawbacks. The requirement to register each design. independently puts a significant financial strain on the designers and adds time to the process. In addition, only registered designs are eligible for protection; unregistered designs cannot.
The significance of design registration was underlined by the Honorable Court in the seminal decision of Microfibres v. Girdhar & Co. (2006). Furthermore, it was established that designs registered under the Design Act would not be eligible to apply for Copyright Act protection.
Copyright laws:
Copyright primarily safeguards the creators’ artistic creations, including plays, songs, artwork, and more. The 1957 Copyright Act grants all of these rights. Getting registered under this act is not required. As soon as that specific task is finished, it will be automatically regarded as registered. The protection is in effect for the author, composer, or artist’s lifetime plus 60 years following their passing. One of the difficulties designers encounter with the copyright statute is that they lose their copyright rights and protection after producing 50 pieces of a certain product. As a result, one must use caution when handling production units.
Gaurav Gupta vs. Abdusalam Khan is a notable case of Copyright in the Fashion Industry. The Honorable Court granted an Ex-Parte Ad-Interim Injunction, protecting Gaurav Gupta’s designs and trademark while holding the defendant accountable for their deeds.
Conclusion:
Even if there are laws in place that safeguard designers’ original ideas, there are still a number of difficulties and weaknesses. We may anticipate modifications and the introduction of new laws and legislation in the near future that will solve issues and gaps in the system, strengthening it even more and giving designers and inventors more security.
Contributed by: Aastha Shrivastav (Intern)