Textile Forum: awareness for property right in fashion

Marylebone was the backdrop for the yearly Textile Forum: a luxury fashion fabric show which attracts designers and buyers alike. In addition to professionals from the fashion industry, this year´s edition of the event was also attended by lawyers from the international firm Bird & Bird. The reason? Raising awareness for the subject of intellectual property in the fashion industry.

“Given the recent spate of copyright and design infringement actions involving parties in the fashion industry, we thought it's important to raise the issue at the show, which is attended by designers who have considerable experience in the industry as well as those just starting out,” explains Textile Forum co-founder Linda Laderman.

In the challenge that was organised, visitors were shown two sketches of dresses that had previously been the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit. Participants then had to guess whether or not the second dress had infringed on the copyright of the first dress. The case even made it to the Supreme Court, where it was decided that the later design had indeed infringed the copyright of the other sketch. Hilary Atherton, who is specialised in intellectual property law, describes the challenge on copyright infringement as a fun way of bringing attention to the subject. Therefore, the designers who were not able to judge whether or not this was a case in which copyright had been violated should not worry too much. “Participants did not have available to them all the evidence that the supreme court had,” stated Atherton.

The fact that intellectual property right is an important topic in any business, including those that are specialised in fashion, is confirmed by Graeme Payne. As a partner in Bird & Bird´s retail group, she believes that businesses that want to become successful have to acquire knowledge on this subject. “The challenge at the Textile Forum highlighted what a tricky area both copyright and design protection is,” she stated.