STARTUP IN FASHION INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION:

In the growing economy of today’s world, fashion industry plays a vital role in everyone’s life. Everyone are going for big brands for clothing like Roadster, eyewear like Lenskart, watches like Titan, shoes like Nike and so on. People in today’s world are very loving towards fashion and they show it by buying products from big brands. These big brands have very high charges compared to regular brands and many people are economically weak to buy these products with high brand value, so many people started to make poor quality products with cheap price with the same brand logo, tag and names which causes huge losses to big companies because those people start shifting from high cost products to these cheap duplicate copy products.

Now, from here the Intellectual Property Rights Act 1970 comes into play, which basically protects the rights of these big brands by not letting anyone use it. It consists of many different laws like Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents etc. Now lets discuss everything in brief.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND TYPES:

So, the basic questions starts by explaining, What is IPR? Now, IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) is nothing but the exclusive rights that are granted to the owner for the creation of its own product. As explained earlier, no one can use any trademark or create duplication of the product without the consent of the owner of the product but the product must be unique. In fashion industry, this stops anyone from recreating fake or duplicate products from the original one.

These are the following types of rights that are granted under IPR to the owner:

1.      Trademarks: According to the “Trademark Act 1999” any signs, symbols or logo that helps in the creation of unique identity from other brands are strictly restricted to be used by anyone if someone is using that particular thing, which is likely to create any confusion in the minds of people. For eg. The trademark of Paytm and Paypal was likely same and there was a suit filed for it regarding the infringement. The one of the most essential thing is that any fashion startup industry must register their trademark under the act otherwise no injunction will be granted to them.

2.      Copyrights act & Design Act: According to the Copyright Act 1956, any literal, musical, dramatic and artistic work created by a person helps them by not creating the same work and publishing the same thing regarding.that particular product and According to the Design Act 2000, the aesthetic and design part of any design including the shapes, configuration, patterns, ornaments, lines and colours shall not be used by any other person than the owner. It will lead to infringement of Copyrights.

3.      Patents: The creative element of fashion design is safeguarded under patent law. Two considerations need to be made in order for a design to get patent. They are unique and innovative. A design need to be honorable and unique. It's so unique that it's being made for the first time. The design must also be feasible from a scientific standpoint. Nonetheless, the fashion sector does not have a strong presence of patent law. Within the technological field, they are more prevalent. The procedure of registering a patent is costly and time-consuming. It has little value in the fashion industry because it is a dynamic field.

IPR IN THE ENHANCEMENT OF STARTUP IN FASHION INDUSTRY

A well-known and powerful brand is known for its strategic assets and effective marketing. A brand's reputation is essential to attracting new clients and boosting business expansion. The distribution and intelligent use of intellectual property rights are essential for building a strong, long-lasting brand. Intellectual property rights often distort a brand's reputation. A brand can monetize and distribute its intellectual property rights in a variety of ways to get the best results and growth.

The first and the most basic thing is that to get the benefits of IP Rights, one must register in under the relevant act under the relevant provisions. For example, if someone wants to register trademarks then it must be registered under the Trademark Act 1999 according to section 18-24 which basically deals with the registration of trademarks.

It also improves the reliability and genuinity which basically improves the overall growth of the brand which leads to more revenue of the business. This gives those fashion industry startups a competitive edge and online recognition.

IMPORTANT CASES IN INDIA REGARDING IPR

1.      Ritika Private Limited v. Biba Apparels Private Limited [CS(OS) No. 182/2011 23^rd March 2016] : The significance of registration under the Designs Act has been further established by the case. It's intriguing to read about a court's position wherein a copyright infringement was determined based on the defendant's industrial process of creating the cloth rather than the plaintiff's direct application of a print, rather than the defendant's products being similar. In determining that there was no copyright infringement in these situations, the court was very explicit in its ruling.

2.      Micolube India Ltd. vs. Rakesh Kumar Trading as Saurabh  AIR 2014 (NOC) 375 (DEL.) FULL BENCH, 2014 (2) ADR 419 (2013) 199 DLT 740, (2013) 199 DLT 740 : The issue concerned the extent of design protection afforded by trademarks. According to the Delhi High Court, if a design is registered as a trademark, the registered holder may take legal action against the infringer. However, designs registered under the Design Act are not protected. The purview of trademark protection in India has been broadened by this ruling

3.      Louis Vuitton Malletier vs. Atul Jaggi 13^th May 2010 : The trademark's application is the main subject of this case. The Delhi High Court ruled that the designers were entitled to preserve the unique aspects of the product in addition to the logos or brand names. In this instance, the defendant was ordered by the court to refrain from utilizing the Louis Vuitton emblem.

CONCLUSION:

In summary, intellectual property rights serve as the foundation of the fashion business. IP and fashion go hand in hand. They are mutually dependent, and neither could survive without the other. IP law is necessary to increase the monopoly of fashion design and serves as a defense against plagiarism and other forms of copying. As a result, it is crucial that IP creators stay vigilant and work to get the appropriate protection for their works. In addition, the government must pass a sui generis law that is uniquely applicable to the fashion industry in order to combat the recent trend of counterfeiting, safeguard national intellectual property, and boost the nation's economy as a whole.