Below is the second installation of my favorite Ted Talk videos about patents. Similarly to the last video I analyzed, this video also discusses the benefits of shared intellectual property to the progress of useful art. Enjoy!
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Johanna Blakley: Lessons from Fashion's Free Culture:THE SITUATION
Blakley begins by telling a story about Italian fashion designer Miuccia Prada. Prada, finds a jacket while shopping with her friend in Paris and begins to analyze the seams and the design. She says she will buy the jacket, but she's also going to copy it. Is this stealing? Or is the fact that she can find the one jacket through the archives of fashion history that will become relevant again indicative of her genius?
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COPYRIGHT LAWS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY
Is illegal for Prada to copy another person's work/design? In the fashion industry, its not! There is actually very little intellectual property protection in the fashion industry other than trademark protection. This means that anybody can copy any garment on anyone in the world and sell it on their own design. This is because the courts decided long ago that apparel is too utilitarian for copyright protection.--
INCENTIVE TO INNOVATE
But without ownership, is there really any incentive to innovate? Blakley argues that because there is no copyright protection in the fashion industry, there is a very open and creative ecology of creativity in the industry. This allows them to sample from their peers' designs and have the broadest pallet imaginable of any industry. This "culture of copying" allows for the establishment of trends, allowing for both a top-down and bottom-up type of industry.
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HOW DO THE GIANTS STAY IN BUSINESS?
If there is no copyright protection on designs, and smaller companies can make knockoff designs for a cheaper price, how do giant luxury brands continue to dominate the market? Blakley states that this phenomenon occurs because their customers are not counterfeit customers.
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THE VIRTUES OF COPYING
- Democratization of fashion
- Faster establishment of global trends
- Induced obsolescence
- Acceleration in creative innovation
This culture of copying at the end of the day has forced many fashion designers to be more innovative in order to stay competitive. When you are forced to make designs to difficult to copy, you are spurring top-notch innovation. Self-copying is also becoming a common trend.
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COPYING CULTURE IS REVOLUTIONARY
At the end of the day, industries with low copyright protection, such as food, automobiles, and fashion, have much higher gross sales than industries with high copy right protection, such as movies and books.
Hey Mo,
ReplyDeleteAgain, I really love the fact that your blogs have additional pictures, figures, and graphs to solidify your blog posts as a whole! I always love the clear and concise layout of your posts, that make it easy for any reader to follow along. Great job!
Hola Mo! First of all good graphics! I would like to open up the question about the virtues of copy. Would have little IP protection work in the tech industry? Would this generate even more innovation? It will definitely get rid of time and money wasted in courts but it is also true that big companies could quickly adopt the technologies that the new start ups are bringing...
ReplyDeleteMo,
ReplyDeleteGreat use of pictures and graphics in this post! I think your analysis of the TED talk relating to the fashion industry was especially insightful, and I loved the way that you structured this blog post! Please keep up the great work and effort -- looking forward to checking in next week!
Best,
Anish
Hi Mo,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I liked this TED talk the most out of all the ones we watched because of its unique perspective to the patent system from the point of view of the fashion industry. I think you did a great job analyzing the talk. Your blog post was very easy to read because of the headers you included. Thank you!
Great job leading class discussion as well!
Great use of graphics and breaking down her talk! One of the most thorough and persuasive reads of her talk. Fantastic job!
ReplyDelete