#intellectualproperty

Oct 25, 2018
3 min

Designs - what are they and how do they protect the fashion industry?

The fashion industry has obtained enormous benefits from the protection offered by design law in the European Union. But to say that designs law is complicated would be a big understatement. This post introduces registered and unregistered designs and outlines the ways in which they can be used to protect the fashion industry. EU level design protection The European Union offers two types of design protection which apply across the whole of the EU, namely registered and unreg

Oct 23, 2018
3 min

Sustainable fashion - the Unmade story

Unmade is transforming the fashion industry and creating a revolution in how people buy their clothes. I recently attended an event where Hal Watts, one of the founders of Unmade, was interviewed by Brooke Roberts-Islam, a fashion tech and sustainability expert. Unmade is a global fashion software company which drives innovation through customisation. It offers fashion businesses an end-to-end digital solution for on-demand production at scale. Nice! Unmade works with some of

Sep 30, 2018
6 min

Fashion, sustainability and the circular economy

I recently had the pleasure of attending a panel discussion which looked at sustainability and the circular economy in the fashion industry. The panel considered the issues posed by smart textiles and fabrics and answered key questions like "what is circular fashion?" and "how can fashion businesses redesign for sustainability?" The panel included: Joanna Dai, the founder of DAI, a fashion business which combines technical fabrics with tailoring to create comfortable and ea

Aug 24, 2018
2 min

What is a trade mark?

Trade marks give you the exclusive right to use a particular "sign" in your business for particular goods and services. They can potentially last forever provided that you keep using the trade mark and keep paying fees to the relevant intellectual property office. What is a sign? A sign is anything which distinguishes one business from other business. Commonly this is a word or a logo but in Europe, it can be anything provided it can be recorded in some form of permanent medi

Aug 23, 2018
2 min

How to create a new brand (legally)

This post is about the legal issues you need to consider when selecting a new brand name and logo. This is primarily a question of trade mark law. There are three main things to consider: Does it meet the criteria for a trade mark? Has anyone else registered it as a trade mark first? Will it pose any problems for me in the future? Trade marks must be distinctive and not generic descriptions of the products sold. As post-modern as a hat brand called HAT may be - you are very u

Aug 21, 2018
2 min

Setting a price in a European contract

It is common to want to fix a price for goods. It provides you and your customers with certainty and means that you avoid disgruntled business partners who find out that one of their competitors got a better deal. There are two major issues to watch out for: Competition law Price fixing is a classic example of anti-competitive behaviour. The bigger your market share, the greater the impact that this price fixing will have on the market - and the more likely this your activiti

Aug 21, 2018
2 min

European contracts - part two

Defining terms Definitions make contracts easier to read. They are often known as "defined terms" and are a mini dictionary at the start of a contract. This means that, for example, rather than repeating the specific trade mark which is licensed, the "Trade Mark" is defined at the start and then the contract can simply refer to the Trade Mark in the rest of the document. Defined terms can save a lot of reading time and improve simplicity but if you get the definition wrong,

Aug 18, 2018
3 min

How to start a fashion business

When you start a new fashion business, there are lots of competing interests for your time. You want to get finance to pay for stock and staff. But you also need to start marketing and build your social media profile. Before long, you will need to start thinking about hiring your first employee. So many things to do and so little time! Each question has legal consequences which it is good to understand in advance... One of the first things you will need to think about is wher

Aug 18, 2018
1 min

Intellectual property rights - it's never too early to think about them

Fashion is built on intellectual property rights. The brand is protected by trade marks. The clothing and accessory design by design rights and (maybe) copyright. The advertising and website will include lots of copyright works including photographs and computer code. If you wait too long to think about intellectual property you may find that there is an expensive reckoning waiting for you. This may mean that you need to rebrand or pay a photographer a lot of money down the l

Aug 16, 2018
2 min

Introducing the European Union

The European Union or EU is the political and economic union of 28 European countries who are known as "Member States". The EU has helped to shape the laws across the majority of Europe over the last 50 years. EU law is based on four fundamental principles. All EU laws have one or more of these principles at their heart: Free movement of goods Free movement of people Free movement of services Free movement of capital The European Union has three main elements: the Parliament,

Aug 12, 2018
1 min

Introducing intellectual property

Without intellectual property rights it would be virtually impossible for the European fashion industry to continue. These rights enable a business to compete knowing that it has a legal monopoly which protects the time and money it has invested into the brand. Although the European fashion industry by no means avoids counterfeits and close copies of their products, intellectual property rights enable businesses to protect their products and enforce these rights in all releva

Apr 10, 2017
3 min

Overturning a trade mark opposition decision - SOULUXE - likelihood of confusion

A mere four days after Arnold J's IWATCH decision, Mann J handed down his decision in another appeal from the hearing officer. This time the dispute centred on likelihood of confusion. SOULUXE - SoulCycle Inc v Matalan Ltd Matalan sought to register the SOULUXE device for various goods and services including clothing in Class 25. SoulCycle, the New York based spinning empire, opposed the application on the basis of its EU word mark SOUL. It was accepted that the goods were t

European Fashion Law