Posts Tagged: "fashion"

Counterfeiting can sometimes be seen as a victimless crime where the only ones losing out are the super-rich corporations whose products are being copied. This is simply not true… A big reason for the increase in fake goods is that quite simply, that they are getting harder and harder to spot, both by consumers and also by the authorities.

British luxury fashion brand Burberry filed a complaint alleging trademark infringement and dilution against American retailer Target Corporation in the Southern District of New York. At issue in the case is the sale of scarves and other fashion items in Target stores which include a pattern closely resembling the iconic Burberry check trademark.

Maybe I and none of my generation will make it into the USPTO Hall of Fame because none of us will have valid patents, valid inventions. Maybe none of my generation will thus be independent inventors. Maybe the Independent Inventor career is over… I just want you to know that you’d be killing the future because I won’t invent in the US anymore if my current patents are issued and subsequently invalidated and those 10,000+ iterations are not similarly invalidated. But that isn’t how the Patent Office works, they only invalidate the patents of some under the guise of enhancing patent quality. What that means is the patents of those who threaten the status quo are challenged while patents of market leaders are left intact.

Virtual reality and augmented reality are catching on, and the fashion industry has taken notice. Many of today’s fashion brands are seeing their work being used in this disruptive technology. But, this has caused trademark issues for both fashion companies that want to protect their brands and fashion technology companies that want to bring those brands into the virtual reality world. Moira Lion and Jeff Greene, with the Intellectual Property Group at Fenwick & West, recently sat down with IPWatchdog to discuss how to approach VR innovations as they develop brand protection.

The ruling has wide implications for both the fashion apparel and home furnishings industry, both of which rely on distinctive, eye-catching designs to sell products. The upshot for clothing and furniture companies is that the Varsity Brands ruling gives product manufacturers an additional tool to combat knock-off designs. With that in mind, manufacturers should review their product line to ensure their copyright-eligible products are protected under this new standard.

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP recently announced that Lee S. Sporn has joined the firm as Of Counsel in its Intellectual Property Law practice, where he will focus on clients in the luxury goods, fashion and retail industries. Sporn is an internationally renowned intellectual property and corporate lawyer and a leader in the fashion and retail law industry.

The bikini is an invention of fashion design that so rocked the world that it was named for a nuclear event, latching on to a growing zeitgeist inspired by the atomic bomb. So why are we talking about bikini’s? Frequent readers know that for holidays we like to find an appropriate holiday theme that allows us to write about patents, innovation, technology, or intellectual property. When we recently saw the new Carl’s Jr. commercial for the All American Burger, with its over the top American imagery, our minds started racing. How could we use that as a hook for a patent related article? Easy. We return to our evolution series, this time looking at the innovative fashion design icon that is the bikini.