Senator Charles Schumer Introduces ‘Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act’

As we’ve reported whenever there’s a story about a fashion designer seeing their work copied (and there are far too many to keep up with, so we’ve only be able to talk about the ones that seem most important or interesting), the Council of Fashion Designers of America have often been a part of the story or lingering somewhere in the background, eager to have legislation passed that would protect designers from theft. Since 2006, when the group launched StopFashionPiracy.com, they’ve been working to get bills introduced in the senate to try and curb the process. Unfortunately, they haven’t had much luck in getting them passed; the difficulty arising from where the line is drawn in determining outright theft and simple coincidence. But they’re trying again, siding with the American Apparel & Footwear Association, for the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act, which was just introduced yesterday by Senator Charles Schumer (PDF). The NY Times‘ Runway blog provides a great primer with all the details, including the history behind it and how difficult a thing this is to regulate and police. They also talk to Schumer who “acknowledged that not every creative designer will feel that he or she is sufficiently protected but he said ‘the bill is a good first step.’” Furthermore, “He expected the bill to be passed this fall.”

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