Responsibilities and Duties of a Fashion Lawyer  

Fashion attorneys give their valuable suggestions to clients on legal issues including fashion, luxury, footwear, textile, apparel, jewelry, cosmetics industries. They provide guidance in areas like procuring licensing, merchandising distribution, franchising agreement to intellectual property employment; and labor relation issues. They include safety, sustainability, and consumer protection issues. Various aspects of corporate, finance, real estate, tax, and business law also come into play.

Fashion lawyers perform a broad range of duties ranging from forming and dissolving business entities, advising on brand development and protection to drafting and negotiating contracts in arbitrating and litigating trademark, copyright, and other intellectual property issues.

Educational Opportunities 

There are very limited courses for fashion law around the world, not many colleges have launched this course yet. As of now Fordham University, New York, is the only Fashion Law Institute, which came up in late 2010 with the support of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Diane von Furstenberg which have launched the fashion law program in their curriculum. The institute offers J.D. and LL.M. students the opportunity to study fashion-related legal issues.

If you are looking to make a career in fashion law, then have a look at perfect Fashion Law courses  offered as short-term certificate and diploma programme taught by experts in the industry, take Fashion Law Journal and Legal Desire courses on Fashion Law, To know more about course modules, detailed information and registration, Click Here or visit: www.legaldesire.com/fashionlaw

The Fashion Law Institute also provides pro bono legal counseling for designers in need. Specialty courses include topics such as Fashion Law, Finance and Fashion Ethics, Sustainability, and Development, as well as Fashion Retail Law and the Fashion Law Practicum. The institute offers a public seminar series for design and legal professionals, as well as a summer intensive course that’s open to both degree and non-degree students.

The University of Milan offers a one-month fashion law course to students every year in the month of July. The course curriculum offers a wide range of subjects to choose in the fashion law course comprising Intellectual property, Financing; and Corporate Structures, Manufacturing, Marketing, Retail, Ethics & Sustainability & Economic Development, International Trade, and Modelling law.

Also, there are some universities in the United Kingdom which do not offer fashion law as a separate course but they have a subject within intellectual property law that focuses on fashion law.

The reason for the growth of Fashion Law

Nowadays, fashion law is gaining momentum as there are a lot of instances of design piracy as a result of which pirated products can be seen in the market all over the globe. For example, copied dresses and accessories of renowned designers such as Elle Saab, Sabyasachi, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo are few which could be seen in the market at a very low price. Few instances of copied products were also seen to be worn by bollywood celebrities in the year 2019. Recently, Shweta Nandan, daughter of the famous bollywood personality Mr. Amitabh Bhachan launched her own fashion line and one of her clothing design was an exact copy of a T-shirt that is sold by the brand TL Room. In October 2019, Michelle Obama was caught in an ASOS knockoff of a Diane Von Furstenberg Fall 2011 frock. With the increasing rate of such cases, fashion law has become essential in the field of textile, footwear, accessories, and many more to protect the design legally and give the appropriate advice in the given case.

How to break into the field of Fashion Law?

Today, very few law firms specialize in the area of fashion law in India. You can potentially intern with one of the law firms that specialize in fashion law or works with fashion clients. Taking courses in fashion law, intellectual property, business and finance, international trade, government regulation, and consumer culture can also provide a foundation that might boost your chances of employment in this specialty. Interning to assist in providing pro bono legal services to the fashion community is another way to gain contacts and related experience.

Career Opportunities

Once you complete a full-time JD or LLM course or a diploma in fashion law you can apply for jobs in various sectors as mentioned below:

• Law Firms:

A growing number of law firms and consulting firms are focusing on fashion law, given the increasing demand for transactional, contractual, and litigation services. In this sector, more preference is given to people with experience.

• Fashion Houses:

Fashion lawyers are particularly valuable as in-house counsels given the specific nature of this business sector which requires legal professionals with multidisciplinary expertise and an understanding of complex legal issues at the national, trans-national, and international levels. Fashion designers seek consultation in protecting their designs in clothes, accessories such as trademark, copyright, and also seeks help in getting their work patented.

•Textile, jewelry, hi-tech industries:

The launch of fashion products involves several steps and a wide range of activities often performed by different suppliers and partners that may entail intricate contract negotiations, shared responsibility for transportation and distribution, protection of copyright, and patent rights.

The fashion law industry is a newly emerging arena of law with ample opportunities for law students and lawyers interested in the field. It is a fresh arena for lawyers to step into the fashion world and bring their legal expertise to the table.

  – Authored by Shreya Gupta, Head – Department of Fashion Law, Legal Desire

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The fashion laws revolve around Intellectual Property Rights and yet they have not been explored to a deeper extent and the growth related to it has been much slower in comparison to other areas of law. “Intellectual property rights allow people to assert ownership rights on the outcomes of their creativity and innovative activity in the same way that they own physical property” [Compendium of Patent Statistics, 2005, Issued by OECD]. In legal terms, brand names are known as trademarks, and enterprise names are called trade names.

The Trademarks Act, 1999 specifies the law regarding trademarks in India. It extends the scope of protection by registration of a trademark to services as well, besides good. It recognizes the well-known marks as a distinct category, and also provides for registration of collective marks, owned by an association of persons.

If you are looking to make a career in fashion law, then have a look at perfect Fashion Law courses  offered as short-term certificate and diploma programme taught by experts in the industry, take Fashion Law Journal and Legal Desire courses on Fashion Law, To know more about course modules, detailed information and registration, Click Here or visit: www.legaldesire.com/fashionlaw

While The Designs Act, 2000 lays down the law for the protection of shape but not function or functional shape. It means that it does not include any method of construction or features or shape or configuration which are dictated solely by the function of which the article to be made in that shape or configuration has to perform [Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd v Action Construction Equipment Pvt. Ltd 1999 PTC 36 (Del)].

The remedy given under the Designs Act, 2000 is twofold i.e. an injunction can be filed against the offender and secondly, the remedy by way of damages/compensation. It means that the remedy of passing off is not available unlike in the case of infringement of the trademark. To explain in brief, the law of passing off is a remedy against a false representation. It is not a remedy against fraud. A case of passing off can be made out when a customer is deceived into believing that the good which the defendant is selling is the plaintiffs. This false representation may be made by a statement or by conduct, for example, by adopting the distinctive mark, name design, get up or appearance of another’s goods.

For registration of a product, the article must be novel and unique with regard to elements like shape, pattern, etc. If the defendant is successful in establishing a lack of novelty or existence of similar design earlier in the public domain, the infringement suit will fail. On the other hand, in respect of passing off the distinctiveness of the element of the mark, it’s visual or other presentation and it’s association with the trader or owner needs to be established. To make the case of infringement, fraud by the defendant has to be established. To prove the case of passing off, it becomes imperative for the owner of the mark to establish that the defendant has misrepresented to the public (intent excluded) that goods belong to the plaintiff.

This overlapping between the law of Trademark and Design was extensively discussed in the case of Crocs Inc. USA vs. Aqualite India Limited [CS-COMM — 903/2018], wherein the High Court of Delhi dismissed the suit filed by the multinational footwear manufacturer Crocs on the ground that a suit for action against passing off solely based on a design registered under the Design Act, 2000 is not maintainable. In this particular case, the plaintiff filed the suit to refrain the defendant from infringing the registered design of Crocs footwear and to restrain them from passing off the goods as their own. Composite suits were filed against some of the defendants for infringement of design as well as passing off. The glaring question raised in this suit was how could action on the ground of passing off concerning design/shape lie under common law i.e the Trademark Act, if under common law design/shape was not understood as a trademark. While in the case of Mohan Lal v. Sona Paint and Hardwares AIR 2013 Del 143, it was categorically held that the cause of action for infringement of design and for action of passing off available under trademark was different.

In a recent judgement of Lacoste & Anr v Aman Jain & Ors pronounced by Delhi High on 1 Feb, 2018, Lacoste was able to establish the case of infringement against two firms which were using the trademark “LACOSTE and LACOSTE with the crocodile logo” which was proved to be deceptive to the original Lacoste brand. This was a classic example of passing off. In this case, Lacoste was able to get the order for permanent injunction and the infringing firms were ordered to cease the sale of counterfeit Lacoste goods and also pay damages to Lacoste accordingly.

In today’s time of globalization, we have numerous brands at Indian and International level selling goods and services to the customers and protection of such brand names become important because of the trust customers place in certain brand value. Designers invest creative knowledge and labor in their products which deserves to be protected from any kind of infringement. Yet still, business owners are not sure as to how and why to protect their brand names. Failure to do so might hamper the reputation and trust of the customers leading to failure of the brand business. Thus, branding and its protection against infringement can be said to be two sides of the same coin.

– Authored by Ankita Srivastava

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Being impacted by the virus scare and the alarming rising numbers in India, when we are quarantined like the rest of the world in such a startling situation, people here still have the forbearance to wait quintessentially for the beloved Prime Minister to take to the media and give out instruction to come to the balconies at one particular time on one particular day and light a candle or clap hands. Without meaning to criticize his gesture towards the nation to bring people closer, I cannot help but wonder that why is it that we as a nation need a call from Narendra Modi to give out direction like a teacher telling nursery kids what to do. Practically speaking, people being in the situation of quarantine have enough time every day of the week to come to their balconies and engage in activities to encourage solidarity. People can light candles every day of the week, birthdays and anniversaries can be celebrated from the spaces of balconies, people can dance and listen to music together and I am sure that people can circle the wagon without some authoritative figure telling them to do so.

One of the international media house reported that at exactly 7 p.m. on Friday evening, thousands of New Yorkers in quarantine stood on their porches and near their windows to applaud first responders and health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.

This powerful act of solidarity, which lasted several minutes, came about after a call on social media to #clapbecausewecare.

To look closely, what people of America needed was just a social media hashtag to come out of their houses and applaud for their medical workers and nothing more. Despite having Donald Trump as their head and the nuances created by his presidency, people of United States of America along with other few other countries have used novel and unorthodox routines to show support for each other just by the use of social media or even without it.

There are posts going viral on the internet showing people in cities like Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Florence, Portugal, and US engaging with each other through the medium of art. In one awe-inspiring video, a fitness instructor in Italy was seen taking class in the community space where people followed his dance steps from their balconies. In another stirring video, people in Europe were seen writing and exchanging heart felt letters with their neighbors. There is another one where people in one of the European cities are playing ball with their neighbors.

On the other hand, in India people are forwarding WhatsApp messages to play online games which is reclusive of creating an emotional and mental bond between people. Moreover, participating certificates are also offered for all as if we need such certificates in this time of crisis when people are committing suicides because of the depressing feeling of isolation as one of the repercussions of the disease. It is only when Mr. Narendra Modi calls out to the nation that we stand together to light candles and clap our hands together. On other days, as the scenario shows we hardly care about each other’s emotion and mental well-being, unless, like puppets we are asked to follow the directives of the government and the idolised prime minister.

To clear out again, the problem does not lie in coming out when the leader calls for but the problem definitely lies in coming out ONLY when the prime minister calls out.

India is the largest democracy and over emphasizing on leadership by one entity is socially and politically hampering for the future of our country. Merely listening and following what is told to us and not using our own creative minds might seem negligible presently but could lead us to the way of crisis and turmoil. We need to watch out for the bigger picture here and the reality shouldn’t be missed.

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It boils down to a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The site that is regarded among Hindus as the birthplace of Lord Rama which also historically locates Babri Mosque.

Religious leaders present their religion and its followers in a very extreme manner with a stark choice – either you are a Muslim or you are Hindu and you dare not tilt more towards another religion when you belong to one. Moreover, if you belong to one religion, you should reject all the other believes. 

It is truly astonishing that on most occasions people see God as a stern and worldly law giver, about whom we only know too much. We know exactly what he thinks about fashion, food, sex, politics and in this case he surely knows whether he wants a temple or a mosque to be built on this piece of disputed land. This image of angry god has been invoked too many times to justify violence, killings, and conflicts. 

One of the most important religious value is truth. If you have a very strong belief in some story, that does not mean that that story is true. Religion is a path for discovery of truth and truth of one person might differ from the truth of another person, from where stems the idea of patience and tolerance. As humans, we should not need a commandment from the any holy book to prevent us from killing one another. There is something deeply troubling and dangerous about people who avoid killing just because ‘God says so’ or who create violence just because they believe ‘god says so’.

To quote a few words from Yajur Veda, “The one who loves all intensely

begins perceiving in all living beings a part of himself. He becomes a lover of all, a part and parcel of the Universal Joy. He flows with the stream of happiness, and is enriched by each soul”.

People in our society are motivated by obedience rather than compassion, and it is horrifying to think what they will do if they come to believe that their god commands them to kill anyone who is not part of their religion and social order. 

Mediation has failed in the Ayodhya dispute from lack of any kind of agreement since the supporters of Hindu and Islamic religion are too attached to their religious orders and there is no space left for any flexibility to retain peace and harmony. Every religion, if we take a closer look, teaches us to retain the freedom to doubt, to check again, to hear a second opinion, to try a different path. Then how come the followers of the two most popular faiths in the world are so immersed in protecting their faith that they have become ignorant of what these religions stand for and what there true teachings really are.  

O You who believe! Enter absolutely into peace (Islam). Do not follow in the footsteps of satan. He is an outright enemy to you.” (Holy Quran: 2, 208)

In fact, modern history has demonstrated that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually more prosperous and also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of losing their truth tend to be more violent than people who are used to looking at the world from several different point of views. 

Our constitution is a secular one and still a dispute on religious grounds has been going on for years. What does it say about the mindset of our country? What does it say about the new low politics has reached ?

Since the era of independence and formation of our constitution, we have ignored the true spirit of secularism which lies in valuing the truth, developing patience, practicing compassion, adopting equality, taking responsibility and so forth. These values are not talked about nor practiced in our country. 

When religion of humans takes over, these values are lost which are supposed to be the underlying foundation of these faiths. Secularism does not mean a negative indoctrination that teaches kids not to believe in God and not take part in religious ceremonies. Rather, secular education teaches kids to distinguish truth from belief, to develop their compassion for all kinds suffering beings; to appreciate the wisdom and experiences of all the earth’s denizens; to think freely without fearing the unknown; and most importantly, to take responsibility for one’s actions. 

When I think of god I think of him as the god of the Islamic state imbibed with the values from Quran and I see him as a patron of the Hindu religious order of wisdom and goodness, and nothing beyond. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in above column are of author and not necessarily reflects the views of organisation. Legal Desire is platform to provide space for legal fraternity to voice opinion. Anyone can submit write-ups via legaldesire.com/submit

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It has been quite a disturbing scenario how this enquiry has been held, especially the hasty nature of it. Although it is a skeptical question whether the complainant in this case is being honest about the nature of complaint or not since there are many conspiracy theories floating around. It is true that such complaints can be weaponised and manipulated but that is not the only focal point of this unique case.

Even assuming that the woman was completely wrong, she still has a constitutional right to the procedure established by law.

Since this case involves a complaint against the CJI who is at the top most position of the judicial hierarchy, it is important to understand that this case will set out a benchmark for similar cases in the times to come.

At first it looked like that SC was trying to remedy the situation wherein CJI was made a judge in his own cause, which defied the basic rule of natural justice and was the lowest point in the judicial history.

Ideally the investigation in such a case should have been conducted by an external committee but instead of doing that the court included two women judges to compensate the existing lacuna.

One question here is that does the Supreme Court has its own sexual harassment committee? The Supreme Court has a Gender Sensitization and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC), in line with the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, to look into the charges and complaints of sexual harassment. The cases and incidents of sexual harassment that take place within the Supreme Court premises can be probed by this Committee.

But this committee is not of any use in this case because the GSICC cannot probe allegations of sexual harassment made against judges. It is only applicable to lawyers, staffers, and any other member employed within the Supreme Court.

Furthermore, any step or action that has to be taken by the GSICC needs to be recommended to the Chief Justice of India first, and only the CJI can approve of any action against the accused.

Therefore, this complaint brings out a complete unique scenario because top most official of the Indian judiciary is the prime accused.

In such a case, having an external enquiry could have ensured that the judiciary is viewed as an impartial body.

The complainant in this case had asked to be represented by a lawyer or an amicus curiae which was her basic right and also a reasonable request coming from someone pitted against the Chief Justice of India, but the same was denied.

Justice Chandrachud in his letter stated that it is a ‘question of her dignity’ which needs to be protected. The letter also said that provision of a lawyer is not a privilege but “a matter of right” for the complainant. Justice Chandrachud argued for an external member to broad base the committee and suggested the names of three retired women Supreme Court judges to choose from. But clearly the suggestion was overlooked.

The complainant gave a detailed explanation of the incident of sexual harassment in her affidavit which was much required to be probed extensively and it is not justified to investigate and dispose off the matter in a short span of three days.

The court could have used this as an opportunity to set out a standard operating procedure or in-house mechanism for dealing with such complaints which would have led to a brighter future for justice delivery system in India.

The complainant was told that her own testimony would not be given to her because the inquiry is confidential. She also asked for procedural guidelines before the committee began it’s inquiry, but the same was not supplied. These facts about the in-house enquiry raises substantial questions.

Former Delhi HC Chief Justice, A P Shah says, “I believe that as per the law laid down in Indira Jaising’s case, the report of this inquiry will not be available to the public, nor can anyone challenge it. So this has resulted in a complete mockery of justice…I believe, like ADM Jabalpur, this episode is going to haunt the Supreme Court in the years to come. [The ADM Jabalpur judgement delivered by the Apex Court in 1976 upheld the suspension of Right to life by Presidential Order, legitimizing the Emergency].

The fact that judges cannot be probed for allegations is highly problematic and needs immediate attention. The judges should not forget that the institution is greater than the individual.

To remember the words of Justice Verma who said, ‘Be you may ever so high, you are not above the law.’

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The Court has said that the status of SC/ST is granted in relation to the state and the concept of reservation will hold no value if the people who have migrated from one state to another are brought within its scope. The SC has passed this order while deciding a case on the issue of reservation in subordinate services which was referred to it by the Delhi High Court.

The SC has stated that the people belonging to the SC or ST category in one state cannot be given the same status in any other state where they have migrated for the purposes of employment or education. The Court further stated that if the SC/ST are allowed to avail the benefits of reservation in all the states then the mandate of the Constitution of India to restrict the benefits of reservation within the geographical boundaries of a state will be compromised.

It has been deduced by the SC that the Presidential orders issued with regard to SCs (Article 341) and STs (Article 342) under the Constitution cannot be changed by any authority including Courts as it will go against the constitutional mandate. It also stated that only the Parliament has the powers to alter such mandate under the boundaries derived by law.

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The Delhi High Court has stated that two rooms without basic requirement of a kitchen cannot be treated as a house while deciding a case of a woman asking for an alternate plot in return for acquired land.

The petitioner had earlier requested the concerned authority in the Government of Delhi to allot an alternate plot against a piece of land acquired by the petitioner. The Government had rejected the plea on the grounds that a two-room property which was occupied by tenants is under petitioner’s possession.

The petitioner’s lawyer had submitted to the Court that the property owned by the petitioner cannot be considered as a dwelling house as the plot only comprises of two rooms and a bathroom without a kitchen, as per the records of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The HC, while taking note of various judgments of Supreme Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court, has stated that a dwelling unit must provide the basic amenities such as cooking, sanitary, washing, etc. In doing so, the HC has taken a deviation from the government’s view by holding that the acquired property cannot be considered as a dwelling house as it does not provide the basic requirement of a kitchen.

Further, the HC has set aside the government authority’s order and has directed the government to reconsider the application of the petitioner for allotment of an alternate plot, within 12 weeks.

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To ensure speedy justice in rape cases, the Prime Minister has asked the forensic experts to adopt modern technologies like DNA profiling. The DNA technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 has been accepted by the Central Government which aims at expanding the application of DNA-based forensic technologies to support and strengthen the justice delivery system of the country.

Narendra Modi, while addressing the 4th convocation ceremony of Gujrat Forensic Sciences University, called upon the forensic experts to assist the judicial bodies with the use of DNA profiling in order to punish the culprits of heinous rape cases immediately and provide speedy justice to the victims. Referring to the Mandsaur rape case where the two accused have been awarded death penalty in less than two months, the Prime Minister has said that technology should be used to the maximum extent if the usage of the same can bring the speedy delivery of justice. Further, new techniques are needed to ensure that the culprits aren’t spared.

Modi has also stated that the police, the judiciary and forensic science are the three main pillars for ensuring the citizens feel safe and the crime is kept under. He quoted an example of ‘Pagi’ community who live at the border of Gujrat and Rajasthan and have been trained since childhood on how to trace whether the camel was laden with goods or a human was riding it, by looking at their footprints in the sand.

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The Court, while upholding the decision of the Uttar Pradesh Government, has denied the plea of four senior doctors of Joint Director and Senior Consultant rank for voluntary retirement, owing to the shortage of doctors in the State. The SC has said that the UP government has resorted to the concept of public interest by denying the voluntary retirement plea of the employees.

The SC has stated that UP is going through a scarcity of doctors and if all the doctors are permitted to retire voluntarily, it would create a state of chaos in the State as no doctor will be available in the government hospitals. It has also been stated by the SC that allowing voluntary retirement will go against the principle of the welfare state and is injurious to the public interest for the same reason.

The four doctors had applied for voluntary retirement before the UP government which was dismissed. Then, they had approached the Allahabad  High Court challenging the government’s order. The SC has reversed the order of the Allahabad  HC, which allowed the doctors to retire voluntarily. The SC, while rejecting their plea for voluntary retirement, has stated that the poor people rely upon the government hospitals for treatment and their life cannot be put at risk by allowing such pleas.

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