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Fashion and Intellectual Property

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2025

Edited by
David Tan ,
Jeanne Fromer  and
Dev Gangjee
David Tan
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Jeanne Fromer
Affiliation:
New York University
Dev Gangjee
Affiliation:
University of Oxford

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Chapter
Information
Fashion and Intellectual Property , pp. v - viii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NC
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

Fashion and Intellectual Property

In this concise and immensely readable volume, the editors have (in addition to contributing three wonderful, and very different, chapters of their own) assembled a first-rate collection of authors. Fashion provides a superb vehicle for analysis of the full range of intellectual property regimes, and contributors here touch on them all. The result is a 360-degree examination of how intellectual property law protects fashion and how IP’s treatment of fashion shines a light on many challenges confronting intellectual property law.

Graeme B. Dinwoodie, University Distinguished Professor, Global Professor of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law

This book brings together the latest research findings from many world-renowned intellectual property scholars. It covers cutting-edge topics at the intersection of fashion and intellectual property, such as postmodern interpretations of intellectual property, the use of IP to regulate signs of social distinction, the nuanced meanings of functionality in fashion design, the distinctiveness of non-traditional trademarks, challenges in intellectual property faced by fashion upcycling, and the interplay between identity politics and fashion intellectual property. This collection offers a valuable opportunity to reassess the foundational theories and policy objectives of existing intellectual property systems and gain numerous profound insights. Its relevance extends far beyond the fashion industry, making it essential reading for all intellectual property professionals.

Guobin Cui, Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Intellectual Property, Tsinghua University School of Law

This book makes an exceptional contribution to the study of fashion and intellectual property. It offers a comprehensive examination of cutting-edge legal issues while also delving into various perspectives in culture, politics, and economics. It is an essential read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between fashion and intellectual property.

Haochen Sun, Professor of Law, University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

This is a terrific collection of papers exploring a wide range of legal issues relating to fashion. It’s an A-list group of contributors, and the topics are timely and important, especially in the global context. A must read for anyone interested in the area.

Mark P. McKenna, Professor and Faculty Co-Director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy, UCLA School of Law

This is an essential volume for anyone interested in fashion law and a must-read for those pushing the boundaries of law and fashion.

Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Anyone interested in fashion or intellectual property law will benefit from considering the use of trademark law to reinstate scarcity and hierarchy in a high-tech post-scarcity world; the legal implications of fashion’s function of making bodies look better; the potential environmental sustainability benefits of stronger protection for geographic indications of origin; the similar potential for upcycling to contribute to sustainability if not choked off by trademark law; and other topics in this wide-ranging collection of essays at the intersection of fashion and law.

Rebecca Tushnet, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, Harvard Law School

From brands and designs to copyright, patents and geographical indications, passing through upcycling and cultural appropriation. Fashion IP law could not be better presented and explained to us. David Tan, Jeanne C. Fromer and Dev S. Gangjee have put together a stellar line up of academics with a clear, critical and environmentally-focused perspective of Fashion IP.

Enrico Bonadio, Reader in Intellectual Property Law, The City Law School, City, University of London; editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright in Street Art and Graffiti (2019)

The editors have done a wonderful job assembling a group of leading intellectual property scholars from the USA, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore for this impressive and timely collection. Collectively, the eleven essays explore the complex, evolving, and largely under-theorised relationship between domestic intellectual property laws and the creation, protection and reuse of fashion, and the cultural impact of this relationship. Each chapter is meticulously researched, engagingly written, and illuminating.

Michael Handler, Professor, School of Private and Commercial Law, Faculty of Law & Justice, University of New South Wales

This book includes a fascinating, diverse range of theoretical, doctrinal and political insights into how fashion and IP laws interact. Leading scholars provoke us to consider what role fashion plays in society, how fashion exposes tensions in designs, trade mark and copyright doctrines, and to what extent IP laws facilitate upcycling or enable cultural appropriation.

Tanya Aplin, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London

Not just for fashionistas! Like a delicately woven fabric, this book offers a complex pattern of legal, economic and sociological aspects of fashion law, vividly detailed and rich in background information, presented by a panel of eminent scholars. A real page-turner!

Annette Kur, Professor and Affiliated Research Fellow, Department of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

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