Event
WIPR webinar: The use of trade mark rights to protect fashion designs
July 2021
WIPR is holding a webinar on 8th September at 4pm (BST)/11am ET, where HGF Partner Lee Curtis and Trade Mark Director Rebecca Field will present on ‘A little less ordinary: the use of trade mark rights to protect fashion designs’.
It is widely presumed that copyright and design rights are the principal, if not the only, way to protect key aspects of fashion design, such as the look of clothing items.
However, trade mark rights, registered and unregistered, are often overlooked from both offensive and defensive points of view. The recent decision of the UK Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court (IPEC) in Freddy v Hugz Clothing has highlighted the possibility of protecting fashion design, in that case a pair of jeans, via the common law right of passing off.
The case highlighted some of the difficulties of enforcing such rights. Registered trade mark rights, such as position trade marks, cannot and should not be overlooked when considering protecting elements of fashion design. IP rights owners should not overlook trade mark rights, and if you are the subject of a claim such rights should not be dismissed.
Join Lee Curtis and Rebecca Field, on September 8, 2021 at 4pm BST/ 11am ET for a discussion on Freddy SPA v Hugz Clothing Ltd decision and the use of registered and unregistered trade mark rights in the protection of fashion design.
