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Forever 21 Copyright Lawsuit to Go to Trial
Design house Trovata is taking Forever 21 in front of a jury for the first time ever, and the decision could have far-reaching effects in how fast-fashion lines design their goods.
As you can see in the photo above, the clothes by Forever 21 (top row) are identical to the original Trovata pieces (bottom). F21 has long admitted to producing “inspired by” clothing but insists they do not sell counterfeits. However, the company has been sued many times before and has always settled out of court.
New York Magazine summarizes the potential impact of a jury’s guilty decision:
Designers copy — or take “inspiration” from — each other all the time. If the suit brings about a change in regulations, the quality of goods in fast-fashion chains could suffer greatly, which would be a bad thing for broke people like us. The only good thing about heightened regulations might be the affect it would have on celebrity lines. Since whenever you ask a celebrity who allegedly designs clothing what inspired them, they almost always reply with a designer name, rather than an original idea.
We’d also argue that a change in regulation would improve artistic integrity in fashion. There’s no reason designers shouldn’t be able to protect their ideas the way other artists can.
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“There’s no reason designers shouldn’t be able to protect their ideas the way other artists can”
100% agree. Forever 21 doesn’t emulate other lines so much as copy them verbatim, and it’s not fair to the designer.
Comment by Grapefruitt — April 13, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
i’d have to assume that the drive to innovate in design is hampered by the knowledge that your pieces can be knocked off for a fraction of your cost. integrity should reign here.
Comment by Alison — April 16, 2009 @ 11:48 am
“There’s no reason designers shouldn’t be able to protect their ideas the way other artists can”
…. I can give you a reason: exorbitant pricing. If these precious, artistic designers sold their goods like everybody else in this capitalist world, they’d have a leg to stand on. Supply and demand. But they don’t go by those rules, they go by the rules of the couture fashion world, the world that says only rich people should look good, while only wearing handmade things, only for a high price. I’d like to see the next Marc Jacobs or Ann-Sophie Back manufacturing their wares at a factory in China (or the US! even better!), selling their wares at a normal price point for the average citizen of planet Earth: $30 for a shirt, $60 for pants. THAT, my friend, is “ethical”. Monopolizing the design of a shirt is not. What if American Apparel copyrighted the plain white tee?
Comment by Vee — April 16, 2009 @ 5:51 pm
Calm the hell down, Vee. Trovata is on the pricey side, but it’s not unaffordable if you select quality wardrobe staples. We’re not talking about couture dresses that go for 4k.
You have to draw the line between inspiration and blatant copying, as demonstrated in the picture. Forever 21 pulls this shit all the time.
Comment by Grapefruitt — April 19, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
[...] the infractions that attract lawsuits to Forever 21 like flies to honey, the A+O jacket is not an exact replica and arguably falls on the [...]
Pingback by Ethical Style » Alice + Olivia Knock Off Balmain Military Jacket — April 23, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
I work at forever 21 they pull this shit all the time, that’s not the only crap they screw others on, we haven’t gotten an raise in almost a year, it will be a year in like a month and a half, they make us carry boxes that are about 70-120lbs without any protection, and they don’t respect the schedules they make for us, they make it one day, you look at it and lets say you dont work on a tuesday, so you make a Dr. appointment all of a sudden on monday you find out you work tuesday and they never asked you if that was ok they just assume your life is FOREVER 21, and I believe that shit must be illegal.
Comment by V — December 20, 2009 @ 11:59 pm