Last week I had the opportunity to sit in on a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on copyrighting fashion design. Copyright? Fashion design? How is this supposed to work for a $335 billion-a-year industry (that’s how much money Americans spend on clothing) that has been built on a copyright-free model for decades?
Designers present the argument that the Internet and digital technologies have put their very creation and distribution methodologies at risk; that designers are being copied—before they have the chance to get to their creations in to the marketplace;
that three years of copyright protection they ask for in the bill (HR 5055)will guard their substantial monetary and sweat equity investments; and that the very essence of the fashion creation to market system is in jeopardy and Congress needs to step in.
