Can “David” designers really fight the Goliaths of this world and win? The BBC today highlighted the real issues facing designers in a news story, this time in the fashion world. Four designers tell a heart-breaking story about the frustrations that they feel having their innovative designs being consistently copied by those whose design teams would appear to hide under the banner “following trends” or “taking inspiration.”  Deliberately copying a design, which was apparent in some of the examples is simply unacceptable. In many designers’ eyes it is blatant theft.

Watch the BBC film here

• Dids Macdonald, OBE, CEO of ACID (Anti Copying in Design) said, “I admire these designers for speaking out. This is a familiar and shocking story and it is about time that, generally, fashion retailers who blatantly copy under such flimsy disguises, adopt much more corporate social responsibility. Intellectual property ethics, compliance and respect for the UK’s amazing designers would be a good start. Innovation is what drives retail success but also IP being stolen. Next and Primark are retail names that are familiar to ACID. The message is clear, at the end of the day, fakes are never in fashion and no-one likes copyists. I shall be renewing my calls to Government to create an Ethical Code of Conduct with respect to IP. A combined voice is a united and strong voice against copying!”

“My message is crystal clear, “Commission it, don’t copy it – support our amazing UK designers in a positive way!”

Can designers win? Well, so far since ACID was created there have been thousands of settlements  of ACID members and often these occur after a strongly worded Letter Before Action (LBA) and then naming and shaming as loudly as possible. The most important thing is to be able to rely on evidence and this is where the ACID IP Databank is vital. Members can lodge their designs, and this provides independent third party evidence with a dated, design audit trail. Rarely does a design finish where it started and being able to provide compelling evidence is essential in a Letter Before Action. Often a combination of a strongly worded LBA and carefully using social media (with caution) does the trick!

And don’t forget, following a 10-year ACID campaign, it is now a crime to intentionally infringe a registered design, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.  So clearly, being in possession of a registered design and being able to prove there was intent to copy, is a strong deterrent.  However, the IP Act of 2014 does not go far enough, and ACID is now campaigning for unregistered designs to be included. If you are interested in supporting this campaign, please email [email protected] with any case studies we can use to present to Government.

Prevention is better than cure so here are a few tips for a proactive IP strategy. 10-steps-to-a-proactive-ip-strategy

In summary, the designers talked about remarkably similar designs being produced by several retailers here.

Alex Tullock of Alex Kate The Label cited fashion company Pretty Little Thing who said,

“Our buying and design teams are always identifying the most up to date current trends to our customers.”

“Our teams take inspiration from a range of platforms including social media, the catwalk, as well as styles worn by celebrities.”

Jerri Cook of Dippy Cow Nails talked about Primark who commented,

“The design is part of the wider cactus/geometric trend identified by our buying team.”

* Primark urged Jerri to contact customer care so they can ‘fully investigate her claim.’

Jo Tuchener-Sharp of Scamp and Dude talked about an ‘Unknown Supermarket’ and Next.

Next said,  “We acted quickly to remove the product from sale, donated the remaining garments to charity and our profits from the few garments sold to Scamp and Dude.”

Claire Perez of Fable Heart talked about Boden who had purchased two product samples

Boden added a comment on Instagram “We have withdrawn the crown from our website. We would encourage all customers to buy their lovely crowns from @fable.heart.”

“Customer research and emerging trends drove the creation of the crown rather than Fable Heart.  There was no copyright issue….”