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Fashion & Intellectual Property Book Launch at the National Museum of Singapore

March 17, 2026 | In the News

On 12 March 2026, Professor David Tan launched Fashion and Intellectual Property, an edited book published by Cambridge University Press, at the National Museum of Singapore (NMS). Prof Tan is presently the Head (Intellectual Property) at the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business (EWBCLB) and Co-Director of the Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL).

Prof Tan delivered a talk titled “Not All Things Beautiful Are Protected By Law” to a full house of over 70 guests that included academics, lawyers, fashion designers, curators, and art gallery owners. The talk, which was followed by a dialogue with NMS assistant curator Samuel Lee, covered the development of recent fashion trends such as counterfeit chic, the role of contemporary fashion in museums, and the limits of intellectual property (IP) protection in the world of fashion.

We often marvel at the beauty of the design and craftsmanship of fashion creations. We may also assume that intellectual property laws such as copyright and trade marks protect these creations by famous luxury fashion houses from unauthorised copying. But the truth is far from that. Coco Chanel was reported to have declared that imitation was the highest form of flattery, but brands like Louis Vuitton have been aggressive in asserting their legal rights even against fashion parodies.

The book assembles some of the best-known IP scholars around the world to present their analysis of how different aspects of IP laws interact with and regulate the fashion industry. Its publication was made possible with research funding from the EWBCLB. The book covers key features of IP rights regimes in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and Asia that include copyright, trademarks, patents and geographical indications. This collection is curated and edited by David Tan (NUS), Jeanne Fromer (NYU) and Dev Gangjee (Oxford), featuring contributions from the editors and other scholars such as Barton Beebe, Christopher Sprigman, Robert Burrell, Emily Hudson and Martin Senftleben. The book is available in hardback edition and also as open access on Cambridge Core. To date, the book has received excellent reviews on IPKat and the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies.

Prof David Tan explaining the limits of copyright protection for a Jackson Pollock painting and consequently its permissible copying by Dolce & Gabbana reproduced on a sequinned blazer
A full capacity crowd at The Salon of NMS
Christoffer Eilertsen, present student at NUS Law, modeling the famous “Neymer” jacket by fashion brand Balmain to illustrate the concept of idea-expression dichotomy in copyright law
Hamzah Abdul Rashid, present student at NUS Law, modeling the Versace gold floral baroque blazer as Prof Tan explains the Star Athletica separability test and the notion of copyright’s negative space in the fashion industry
Chua Loo Lin (Chief Communications Officer, NUS)
Cheryl Seah (Director (Corporate & Finance Department), Drew & Napier) posing a question
Chung May Khuen (Director, NMS) receiving the book from Prof Tan
(L-R) Muzainy Shahiefisally, A/P Arif Jamal, A/P Jean Ho, Sanil Khatri, Prof David Tan, Benjamin Wong
Prof David Tan with Jackie Yoong (Senior Curator (Fashion & Textiles), Asian Civilisations Museum) and Yap Weiqi (Assistant Curator (Design), Asian Civilisations Museum)
(L-R) Cameron Richards (Group CEO, A Life By Design), Andrea Savage (CEO & Creative Director, A Life By Design), Remy Choo Zhengxi (Founder & Director, RCLT Law Corporation), Prof David Tan
Jessica Maria (Senior Editor, Singapore Academy of Law)

 

Photographs by Vincent Nghai