Week 7 EOC: 10 Intellectual Property Questions

1. As a designer of luxury goods, what would my legal rights be if I found someone with a counterfeit copy of one of my products?

2. I work at a swimwear store. Buyers from Victoria Secret come into our store and buy a bunch of suits that they take back to their designers to copy and sell for lower prices. Is there anything legally the company I work for can do about this infringement and cut into their sales?

3. What about the rights of the designers of the suits that are copied?

4. Would it matter if only a part of the design of the suit was copied or would it have to be the entire product as a whole?

5. If something isn’t done soon about the Chinese disregard for the United States Anti-piracy laws, do you think it is going to even more deeply hurt the economic position of the fashion industry globally?

6. Can a fabric be trademarked?

7. Would I be at risk of getting sued if I used the same fabric widely associated with a designer but not containing their logo if the trademark isn’t trademarked?

8. Many people from other countries go into widely recognized private label stores like Victoria Secret, buy items at retail, then go home and sell them. Is this brand infringement if they say they aren’t associated with the store or the brand?

9. If a company uses a famous band or musician’s words on their fashion products, but adds to the words to make them different or satirical, is that copyright infringement?

10. How hard is it to get the rights to use images or words from musicians to use on fashion goods?

Week 6 EOC: Illicit

“Fake handbags, watches, shoes, and perfumes. The business of Counterfeit Goods is the largest underground industry in the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars are generated while sapping the economy, putting lives in jeopardy, and funding organized crime in the process. At around 7% of all global trade, counterfeit goods are a big business with low overhead. It makes too much money to go away anytime soon.” (http://www.cnbc.com/id/37824347/) In every country, counterfeit goods are being confiscated. These days it’s not just fashion goods that are at risk to be counterfeit. Almost anything you buy could be a counterfeit. Medicine has been found that’s made with poison and other everyday items are found to be unstable to the point that they could blow up or melt. “Among the most lethal counterfeits are medicines. Imposter products, including counterfeit cough syrup and baby formula, have killed thousands worldwide ... and the death toll continues to rise.” (http://www.cnbc.com/id/37824347/) “Counterfeiting has become such a problem in the United States that Congress has even gone so far as to pass the “Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act” in 2006.” (http://www.iccwbo.org/uploadedFiles/BASCAP/Pages/crime.pdf) Having only seen a few fake handbags, I can understand the reasoning behind making them. The ones that are copied are expensive and only the very rich can afford them. However these brands have earned the right to make their price points as high as they please. They are targeting a specific market and if you can’t afford to be part of that market, don’t add to the problem by buying a fake replica. A logo is a trademark that has been paid for and earned. It’s plagiarism to copy that and those that do should be punished. The fashion goods that I’ve seen copied are poor imitations of the real ones and aren’t worth the money paid for them.

Week 5 EOC: Lawyers looking for fame

There are many lawyers out there that look for celebrity clients or high-profile cases in order to be in the limelight. One such lawyer is Mark Geragos of the Scott Peterson case, the Micheal Jackson child molestation case, Winona Ryder's shoplifting case, and politician's Gary Condit and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater scandal. Most recently Geragos represented Jeremy Mayfield, the suspended NASCAR driver, and Chris Brown, who plead guilty for beating Rihanna. He is also assisting David Carradine's family in the investigation of his death. He is what is known as a "celebrity lawyer." He has built his career upon going after celebrity cases. Another lawyer like this is Martin Garbus. His "client list reads like a Who's Who of authors, actors, and playwrights, including Al Pacino, Sean Connery, Richard Gere, and Tom Brokaw. It also includes Miramax and Bloomberg, L.P. and Nelson Mandela. The legendary First Amendment advocate made a name for himself when he defended Lenny Bruce against obscenity charges. He later continued the theme in representing Don Imus." (http://www.businessinsider.com/top-ten-celebrity-lawyers-2009-10#martin-garbus-5) "In the entertainment business, there's one sure sign that you've made it: Allen Grubman is your lawyer. In what would seem like a conflict of interest for anyone else and is in fact fairly controversial, Grubman has represented by A-list artists and major musicians at the same time. New York Magazine has called him the music industry's "sole superpower attorney." (http://www.businessinsider.com/top-ten-celebrity-lawyers-2009-10#allen-grubman-7) These attorneys represent what gives lawyers a bad name. This is a valid and legal way to make a career out of being a lawyer, however. These people aren't doing anything wrong by choosing to only go after celebrity cases.