A New Look for the Fashion Industry: Redesigning Copyright Law with the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Protection Act (IDPPPA)

Introduced in Congress in August 2010, the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (IDPPPA) would amend 17 U.S.C. § 1301 to extend copyright protection to unique, distinguishable, non-trivial, and non-utilitarian fashion designs. The fashion industry in the United States is currently a $200 billion industry which is afforded limited intellectual property protection compared to foreign markets. This article explores the applicability of the existing Copyright Act to fashion designs and argues that the IDPPPA takes a narrow approach to eliminate ambiguity present in former bills attempting to amend copyright law. The IDPPPA would incentivize innovation, the ultimate goal of copyright law, lead to the creation of new designs, and help stimulate the economy of the fashion industry.

Although the IDPPPA as proposed does not completely eliminate the inconsistency of copyright application as compared to other artistic mediums, the IDPPPA is an appropriate step toward extending intellectual property protection to fashion designs.