Fashion designers create and produce article of apparel ranging from belts, bikinis, boleros, bras, brides dresses, evening dresses, headgear, tanga swimwear, T‑shirts to handbags, and eyeglass frames. Finding on optimal balance between providing incentives to create new works and promoting the two goals of making existing works available to consumers and making material available for use by subsequent innovators is not an easy task. There are substantial disagreementsbetween legal commentators over how and if fashion design should be protected, some arguing that taking ‘inspiration’ from others' designs contributes to the industry's ability to establish trends, while others arguing strongly in favor of enhanced fashion design protection. In this article, we look into the main areas of fashion design protection, as they apply in the United States and the European Union.
