By Elena Davanzo and Daniela Maria Mazzillo News of Patagonia’s latest move made headlines worldwide as soon as it was announced: the billionaire owner of the famous fashion brand decided to give away his company to a charitable trust. “Despite its immensity, the Earth’s resources are not infinite, and it’s clear we’ve exceeded its limits,” …
The Milan Fashion Week is back and so is our fashion law column. As usual, in this series of articles (one for each day of the MFW) we will highlight those that in our view are the main trends in fashion from a legal perspective and, while it remains an all-female initiative, for this new …
After two years of digital shows, the Milan Fashion Week finally returns to the city and we are proud to announce that also our fashion law column is back. In this series of articles (one for each day of the MFW) we will highlight those that in our view are the main trends in fashion …
After the already successful relationship between fashion brands and the gaming community, NFTs open up the fashion system to new digital channels. In fact, the possibility for users to not only buy digital items in the fashion space but to also have unique pieces adds a level of exclusivity that has always be key when …
Intellectual Property Rights in the Metaverse: NFTs and Fashion Read More »
By Elena Varese and Valentina Mazza As “fashion shades and only style remains“, here you have our (hopefully stylish) guess on the top three fashion trends for this year.
As the Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2021 goes on, another hot topic getting the attention of fashion houses is the issue of celebrities’ right of publicity, i.e. the right to control the commercial use of their identity. To what extent are fashion brands free to use celebrities’ name or image in their marketing communication and …
Milan Fashion Week and Fashion Law Trends – The magic realm of the right of publicity! Read More »
On 16 October 2019, the Advocate General Tanchev issued his opinion in relation to one of the most interesting trademark disputes of the recent years, waiting for a preliminary ruling judgement before the CJEU.
The dispute involves Sky plc, Sky International AG and Sky UK Limited (“Sky”), active in the satellite and digital television broadcast service, against Skykick UK Limited and Skykick Inc (“Skykick”), which supply cloud migration information technology services.
According to the results of the main proceedings held before the High Court of Justice of the UK, Sky sued Skykick for having allegedly infringed its EU trademarks consisting in the word “SKY” through the use of the sign “Skykick” and its variants. Skykick defended its position by denying the trademark infringement alleged by Sky and by counterclaiming that Sky’s trademarks were invalidly registered, on the two grounds that (i) the specifications of goods and services lack clarity and precision and (ii) the relevant trademark applications were consequently made in bad faith.
It is common to spot groups of paparazzi taking pictures at celebrities, fashion icons and influencers on the streets not only during fashion weeks and events, but also in their day-to-day lives. At the same time, it has become increasingly frequent in the United States for paparazzi to file copyright infringement lawsuits against celebrities for sharing those pictures on the Internet, i.e. on social media platforms, without the photographers’ “permission or consent” or without paying them any licence fee.
The latest to be sued by a paparazzi for copyright infringement is no less than Victoria Beckham, but the list includes both celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, Gigi and Bella Hadid and brands such as Marc Jacobs and Versace. In general, these cases tended to end with out-of-court settlements that led celebrities to pay steep monetary damages. This created a precedent and many other lawsuits, which are still pending, followed, in the last few months.
The retail and fashion sectors need to deal with new legal issues due to the adoption of IoT technologies as a consequence of the rapid digital revolution of the industry.
The “wave” of the Internet of Things is heavily impacting the retail sector leading to new legal issues that have never been experienced by most fashion brands, and in general retail companies.
As the Milan Fashion Week goes on in these days, we are eager to keep you updated with the very most recent fashion law topics and matters.
This time we speak about copyright after that on 12 September 2019, the CJEU issued the long-awaited decision on the Cofemel case C-683/17, which opens a new path for the copyright protection of designs in the EU and in Italy.
The case involved G-Star Raw CV and Cofemel – Sociedade de Vestuário SA, two companies active in the sector of clothing, including design, production and sale of materials. G-Star accused Cofemel of copying its designs related to jeans, sweatshirts and t-shirts products, claiming that its models constituted original intellectual creations qualified as “works” and protected under Portuguese Copyright Law. On the other side, Cofemel argued that such models could not be qualified as “works” and, hence, were not copyrightable.
After that last September Lady Gaga walked the Venice Film Festival red carpet in a pink feathered Valentino gown, next season will be all about feathers. But where do feathers come from? Are they compliant with sustainability claims and animal welfare regulations?
Since consumers are increasingly sensitive towards sustainability problems and the ecological and ethical qualities of a product can influence the purchasing choices of the average consumer, the last trend in fashion is using materials and manufacturing processes that respect the environment and local communities, along with animal welfare and working conditions. During last Milan Fashion Week, the whole fashion system met at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards launched in 2017 to celebrate the commitment of luxury fashion houses to sustainability. Ex Spice Girl, now fashion designer Victoria Beckham announced that she will stop use of exotic leathers from A/W 2019 collection of her fashion brand, already fur free. The global sportswear brand Adidas committed to using only recycled plastic by 2024. Just yesterday the French luxury group LVMH launched the first standard for responsible crocodile leather sourcing across three pilot farms.
At the beginning of the year, in our fashion predictions we put artificial intelligence (“AI”) at the top of the fashion agenda and ‒ yes, no magic sphere needed! ‒ we were actually right.
Technology has had a huge impact on the fashion industry and in the last year all the retail giants took an algorithmic approach to fashion. After Amazon’s Echo Look app which gives feedback or recommendations on your outfits and Zara’s interactive fitting rooms, with mirrors recognizing the clothes that you are wearing and suggesting others to match them based on style, color and mood, also Yoox explored the potential of AI.
The fashion month is over and – besides fringes and feathers – artistic monuments and museums have played a big role on the stage! From the Louvre Museum for Louis Vuitton, the Tour Eiffel for Yves Saint Lauren, the Palais de Justice for Givenchy and Le Palace Theatre for Gucci, fashion houses continue to choose …
Fashion runways and right of panorama: a trendy combo! Read More »
Another prestigious brand sued by a celebrity’s family for using its name without asking for the authorization! After Burberry sued by Humphrey Bogart’s heirs in the United States for using an image of the actor wearing the iconic trench in the movie Casablanca on its website, and Mattel sued by the Frida Kahlo Foundation in …
“Don’t mess up with my right of publicity”: celebrities will not forgive it! Read More »
Big news in the fashion system! On 12 June 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) finally decided on the long debated case over Christian Louboutin’s red sole trademark.
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