Interrogating intellectual property rights in fashion and design

The next public conference from The Enterprise of Culture this spring will examine the question of fashion and design’s intellectual property rights (IPR) in the diachronic framework of the post-war period, by bringing together researchers across the fields of law, design and fashion history, business and economic history, and anthropology.

Taking place at the University of Oslo on 12 June 2015, Interrogating intellectual property rights: fashion and design will investigate a range of exciting cases entangled in shared histories, from the rise of corporate identity design, criminalization of fashion piracy and a biography of the Danish PH Lamp, to Hells Angels’ tough protection of the power of their gang insignia vis-à-vis fashionable imitators. Speakers from the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and USA will consider questions such as what counts as original or as an innovation, and to what degree should and can these be protected in face of cheap copies and knock-offs flooding the markets at an unprecedented speed? And who has the definition power and the leverage in the form of market access and higher levels of protection in foreign markets?

Dr Veronique Pouillard Maliks, Principal Investigator for The Enterprise of Culture at the University of Oslo, said of the conference:

‘Creative industries rely upon complex systems of intellectual property rights, from copyright, patent, design rights, to trademark laws that can be used alone or in various combinations in order to protect innovative designs. Innovation in fashion and design is notoriously hard to define, and as such these industries allow us to question the boundaries of intellectual property, the role of IPR in market and profit protection largely benefitting big players, as well as the complex relations between creativity and copying.

‘At this one day conference, talks by academics, students and museum professionals will examine a wide range of case studies pertaining to intellectual property rights (IPR) laws in national and international frameworks, the challenges to the enforcement of the law, and the lived effects of the law on the ground.’

The conference is open to anyone with an interest in law, design and fashion history, business and economic history, and anthropology. It is free to attend but booking is essential as places are limited. To register, please click here.

Further information, including the programme of speakers, can be found here.

Interrogating intellectual property rights: fashion and design is organised by team members at the University of Oslo and the University of Leeds on behalf of the Enterprise of Culture project, a three-year collaborative project on the history of the fashion business in Europe after 1945 funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area II (HERA II).