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However, as I wrote when just such an article popped up a month ago, if the market is already incredibly innovative and competitive, why should we put up new barriers? The market seems to work as is, encouraging designers to keep innovating and keep coming out with something new. So it's hard to see what the societal benefit of increased protection is.
I would caution that the difficulty or complexity of applying legal standards is different from lack of "bright lines." Note that many legal disputes in IP are decided by balancing/weighing elements or prongs (the fair use and abstraction tests in copyright are good examples). To replace these tests with "bright lines" sounds like a proposition for deciding IP disputes purely by prima facie observations, or worse, advocacy for replacing our common law system for the civil code.
There's an interesting discussion of the issue over at AntitrustProf Blog.
If you buy the notion that it's a good idea to protect boat hull designs, then why not extend protection to fashion? On the other hand, if we protect boat hull designs and dresses, why not patent storylines and plots, or extend copyright to protect a hairdo. Maybe Tyra Banks can gain IP protection for her figure (not just her persona, but her figure). In order to protect himself against infringement, Walter Payton should be able to secure the rights on his running moves, so no NFL rookies will be able to steal from him.
Getting back to reality, protection of industrial designs is not new. The Copyright Office prepared an interesting report about proposed protections for fashion design. They conclude with this:
It is worth noting that the fashion industry has tried to gain IP protection for a long time. They tried the courts, but that didn't work. Cheney Brothers v. Doris Silk Corp. was decided in 1929. As Judge Learned Hand put it in the opinion:
I find it a bit ironic that a 2003 opinion piece by David Bollier and Laurie Racine made the case that the massive economic success and vibrant creativity of the fashion industry is due to the fact that it is not impeded by IP protections. If the lords of fashion get what they want, in a few years they may find themselves hankering for the bad old days.
Gothic Architecture, for example was the result of hundreds of years of trial and error, with each iteration being slightly different than the prior one, through a process of trail and error.
Design movements evolve, each individual design building upon prior art. This kind of idea, were it widely applied, would lead to less creativity and less innovation.
If you're going to buy something only to wear it for a year or so, I suggest Tasso Elba's fall line of casual suits. Maybe mix-match that with Hilfiger's new dress shirts. Polo and Perry Ellis seem intent on waiting out this fashion cycle...