Enforcing in Style: Top Tips for Protecting Your Brand at New York Fashion Week

As designers prepare to showcase their new fashion lines at New York Fashion Week (NYFW), counterfeiters are on the prowl to find out what trends will be popular in the upcoming seasons. With social media playing a huge role in promoting brands and granting international exposure, designers’ intellectual property rights are susceptible to prompt infringement. World Trademark Review contacted Finnegan attorney Mark Sommers for insight into how brands can prepare for the evitable infringement following high-profile events such as NYFW.

Mark said, “The show is a public forum and they’re there to get the press and media for when they introduce their products. For that reason, almost all of the designs and features shown at NYFW are at threat of being copied in China straight away. You get immense publicity, but you also have the copycats sitting in wait.”

One strategy for brand owners is to incorporate/create trade dress elements as part of the fashion lines being released. Mark said, “Find those defining elements that indicate the source of the product in some meaningful way outside of the word mark. Whatever might be the hallmark of the brand, be it patterns, stripes, or colors, the company must try and embed it in the products.”

Mark also believes that social media can be used to the brand’s advantage. He said, “Social media is―for the savvy trademark owner―a blessing. It gives immediate instantaneous outreach to the consuming public and starts that process of association. This type of media can drive consumer recognition of the particular elements that the brand is introducing.”

For brand owners looking to enforce their IP rights and successfully take down copycats, Mark recommends finding the best defendant. Copycats that post on social media and associate themselves with the original brand or openly admit to offering the brand’s products at a lower price are easy targets for lawsuits. He said, “These types of admissions show that the defendant recognizes the associated property value with the brand owner, which is the prerequisite of distinctiveness.” Conversations in the comments section can also be used as evidence. “There’s often conversations on social media where people chime in that something is clearly a knock-off or that they saw it first at NYFW.”