Fashion & Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable

In person at Bukit Timah Campus (left to right): Professor Roger Ford, Associate Professor Vicki Huang, Dr Emily Hudson, Professor David Tan, Professor Jeanne Fromer, Professor Robert Burrell, Professor Martin Senftleben and Professor Lee Jyh-An

On Friday 6 January 2023, the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business organised the Fashion and Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable at NUS Law. This Cambridge University Press book project is co-edited by Professor David Tan (NUS), Professor Jeanne Fromer (NYU) and Professor Graeme Austin (Melbourne/VU Wellington).

Fashion is a style of personal adornment, a trillion-dollar industry, a driver and marker of popular culture, a crucial component of artistic and cultural heritage, a product of technological innovation and enterprise, and increasingly a key element of health and environmental policies. Longstanding issues include the role of legal protection for fashion given the relatively short trend cycles, the relevance of fashion designs’ functionality to the appropriateness of the various forms of intellectual property protection, and the central role that fashion brands play in our culture and self-identification. Moreover, with growing global economic inequality and political instability, climate change and its impacts, digital transformations (including NFTs and the metaverse), and the COVID-19 pandemic and anticipated rejuvenation to follow, fashion is coming under unprecedented challenge from a range of new quarters. This book sets out to explore fashion’s many intersections with intellectual property law, policy and practice.

The book brings together internationally renowned experts and emerging scholars from the US, UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, to provide a leading compendium on fashion and intellectual property in the twenty-first century. It features chapter contributions by Christopher Jon Sprigman (NYU), Mark McKenna (UCLA), Barton Beebe (NYU), Kal Raustiala (UCLA), Robert Burrell (Oxford), Dev Gangjee (Oxford), Roger Ford (UNH), Martin Senftleben (Amsterdam), Vicki Huang (Deakin), Emily Hudson (KCL), Lee Jyh-An (CUHK), Megan Richardson (Melbourne), Alice Lee (HKU), and more. The book is scheduled to be published in 2024.

Professor Kal Raustiala speaking via Zoom

Professor Christopher Sprigman presenting his paper via Zoom

Professors Martin Senftleben and Robert Burrell deep in discussion

Professor Mark McKenna speaking via Zoom

Professor Jeanne Fromer talks about the decline of ownership in fashion

Professor Lee Jyh-An draws our attention to a particular point

Professor David Tan introducing The Hacker Project and explains counterfeit chic

Professor Roger Ford explains the role of utility patents in fashion

Mr Lawrence Lau and Associate Professor Alice Lee speaking from Hong Kong

Professor Dev Gangjee addressing the room from Oxford

[Photos: Vincent Nghai]