Page 7 - Minnesota Vol 8 No 2

The internet, however, is also available to copycats who can easily capitalize on someone else’s creativity by also utilizing contract manufacturing and selling knockoffs at reduced prices - right alongside the original product. High end brands such as Prada are victimized by copycats ...
...who sell counterfeit Prada
purses to unsuspecting consumers, or to knowing consumers willing to settle for an inexpensive Prada imitation.”
the European Union that the shoe’s red bot- tom functions as a trademark. Such trade- mark protection, however, takes time to de- velop. Consumers had to develop recognition that red bottom shoes are Louboutin shoes.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright is another quick form of protec- tion since it is automatic, as soon as the “work” is xed in a tangible medium of expression. But copyright does not protect useful articles such as clothing. Copyright can protect cer- tain aspects of the clothing, including the pat- tern on a dress, but not the dress itself. Under U.S. copyright law, clothing has long been considered functional in nature, and therefore a useful article. If the pattern on the dress can exist separate from the dress as an artistic fea-
ture, copyright protection is available for that artistic feature.
DESIGN PATENTS
Unlike a utility patent for a zipper, a design patent can be obtained within a year and pro- tects the ornamental appearance of a useful article such as a dress, a shoe, a purse or a hat. A design patent cannot protect how a purse opens and closes but can protect the orna- mental aspect of the clasp that performs the opening and closing function. Also, obtaining a design patent is a fraction of the price of the cost of obtaining a utility patent and typically issues sooner than a utility patent would.
Muiccia Prada said, “Fashion is instant lan- guage.” Unfortunately, protecting fashion is not so instantaneous or easy.
AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com
7