The
following TED video is a speech from Johanna Blakley. She is the Deputy
Director of the Norman Lear Center, which is a media-focused think tank at the
University of Southern California. Blakley spends much of her time exploring how our entertainment interacts
with our political, commercial and social habits. She is especially
interested in the surprising impact of intellectual property rights on
innovation. She organizes conferences around the lack of creative ownership in
fashion as well as technology and the ownership of creative content.
And
that is exactly what she talks about in the speech. The video is from April of
2010, where she speaks about how the fashion industry has no copyright laws
besides that of trademarking. This information is still accurate today,
although Diane von Furstenberg- the president of the Council of Fashion Designers
of America has been pressing the issue in legislation recently with little
success.
There
are many people who disagree with the fashion industry having copyright laws.
They hone on the fact that it is just a law to smash out the little guy so big
names can own all the styles they create and make a sort of “monopoly”.
Personally,
I understand the feeling of being ripped off for your ideas. Plain and simple,
it feels terrible, yet gratifying. It is really the best compliment you can
receive. It does feel unfair. But really, how can we copyright clothing? How
does anyone have the right to say that they have truly created a style or
pattern for the first time? And if that is not what they are trying to say,
then the whole process is obviously about greed, rejecting the entire idea of
art. Art is based on inspiration and recreation. There is nothing new under the
sun. I completely agree with Blakley in what she’s saying here. She outlines
the following list of benefits of copying in the fashion industry.
The
virtues of copying:
-Democratization
of fashion
-Faster
establishment of global trends
-Induced
obsolescence
-Acceleration
in creative innovation
In
my opinion, the most important of these is democratization. Just like speech-
art should be done freely. Once we start putting laws on what we can do
creatively, people in higher places begin to gain too much power. Little room
is left for beginners to start up and grow. It is the same reason the following
industries do not have copyright laws.
-Comedy
-Food
-Hair
-Car
-Furniture
-Tattoos
-Fireworks
display
-Smell
of perfume
-Magic
tricks
-Rules
of games
Blakley
also brings up the great point that the industries without copyright laws make
much more sales per year than those who do, as illustrated in the chart below.
Is this because of so many people ripping off the big names for their ideas and
selling them for their own? Possibly. But still, the numbers speak.
I
have little hope for the passing of the Innovative Design Protection Act (the
fashion copyright law), even with the major pushes from the Council of Fashion
Designers of America. As much as I love Diane von Furstenberg, this is one
issue I must disagree with her on. We’ll just have to see how it plays out in
the courtroom.
It
is quite inspiring to me that Blakely has taken this issue so far with her
research. With all the opinions out there on the subject, it is hard to know
what to think. She really lays out the facts of the issue and why we should pay
attention to it, not only in fashion, but in other industries as well.
To
find out more about Blakley, check out this interview. Or find more info on her website.
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