Posted in February 2012

no copyright love for fashion ?

Although there are several outlets for infringed-upon fashion designers to explore, we often focus on trademark rights. Why, you might ask? Intellectual Property law encompasses trademark, as well as copyright, patent and trade dress protections. When selecting an avenue for recourse, a scorned designer/artist/author will strategically choose the best avenue for success on its specific claim. For fashion designers, this is usually trademark-affiliated, for reasons Haute-Law will continue to explore. But for now, I’d like to briefly explain copyright law and why it doesn’t always work for fashion.

The US Copyright Act (title 17 of the USC), offers an exclusive bundle of rights Continue reading

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Louis Vuitton v. Akanoc Solutions

Louis Vuitton in Paris

When counterfeit goods are sold online, trademark and/or copyright infringement is certainly being committed by the manufacturing company, but what about the company that provides the web hosting services for that company? Tiffany v. eBay was a good example of a fair use exception for the online auction house, but there is a distinction to be made between common-carriers like eBay, in which the fair use doctrine provides an exception, and actual service providers.

Internet service providers (ISP’s) are used by nearly every business and person with a website (outside of the web-hosting industry). Website authors buy their domain names and internet access from companies that monitor and control their internet access. Haute-Law.com, for example, uses a great website for blogs, WordPress.com. We pay a small annual fee for our domain name and the WP user face (which makes blogging insanely simple). Louis Vuitton v. Akanoc Solutions answers a very important question for ISP’s that provide service to websites that sell counterfeits.

Just last year, Louis Vuitton successfully sued Akanoc for nearly $11 MILLION dollars.    Continue reading

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