When The Fashion Police Go On Patrol

WE live in interesting times when originality is an increasingly contested word in art, fashion, and music.

- REVERSE SWING MADHAVAN NARAYANAN Senior journalist

But are fashion battles worth fighting in courts? Delhi-based fashion designer Anupamaa Dayal is suing a South American apparel brand, Rapsodia, on the grounds that it has plagiarised her designs. The designer's label, named after herself, emphasises hand-printing and needlecraft using Indian motifs. Argentina-based Rapsodia's website has been blocked in India following the dispute, but the ensuing legal battle would be an interesting one to watch.

Research into the messy field of fashion design makes one wonder if courts are the right place for those who would rather be celebrated on catwalks. Intellectual property is a tricky business, more so when it involves subjective aesthetic ideas like design and beauty, unlike, say, pharma formulations. Fashion fights involve financial costs that may not justify a legal challenge. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Dayal says her designs were copied "in totality" and wants suitable compensation, along with an apology.

Fashion products are governed by copyright laws that protect original artistic works including fashion design as 'graphic art'. That intersects with the Designs Act passed in 2000, under which a copyright is lost when you go for a registered design. Copyright is more for unique works, not mass-produced items. Fashionable clothes worn by a large number of people can fall between the two stools of aesthetics and utility.