Fashion and Intellectual Property

The book focuses on how fashion designs such as textiles, clothing and footwear, are protected by intellectual property laws which include copyright and trademarks. The authors also discuss a range of topics such as fashion trends, fashion and cultural theories, environmental sustainability and freedom of expression.

Fashion is a multi-billion-dollar global business, which is not surprising because of our basic need to wear clothes and shoes. The fashion system thrives on ephemerality, novelty, seduction and hedonism. There are countless books on intellectual property law, numerous books on fashion theory, and a few books on fashion law, but hardly any on fashion and intellectual property. This book assembles a constellation of some of the best-known intellectual property scholars around the world to present their analysis of how different aspects of intellectual property laws interact with and regulate the fashion industry. It presents a meticulously curated collection of how intellectual property laws interact with contemporary fashion and culture studies in protecting fashion creations that range from clothing and footwear to textiles. It covers key features of intellectual property rights regimes in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and Asia that include copyright, trademarks, patents and geographical indications. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.