Counterfeit Chic hits the massive time

Counterfeit Chic makes it into the Wall Street Journal and discusses the outer edges of IP rent-seeking.  An excerpt from Susan’s own post-publication commentary:

I think that clothing has been a communicative medium (deliberate or incidental) from time immemorial.  A chieftan’s robes or a beggar’s rags both send a message, and so did Adam & Eve’s fig leaves.  As with other technologies, however, the last couple of centuries of industrial development have increased the expressive potential of the medium — and the opportunities for plagiarism.  And, of course, the need to consider legal intervention to protect creators from copyists. . . .

I must add that I was amused by the article’s quoting the sanctimonious concerns of copyists that legal protection might harm creative designers or the industry — talk about crocodile tears!  That line of argument says more about the speakers themselves and their use of others’ work (in any medium) than about the fashion industry….

Ron Coleman

LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION blog author Ron Coleman is a member of Dhillon Law Group in their New York City and Montclair, New Jersey offices. He is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and Princeton University.