- Act Now - Open Internet - Promoting Creativity - Open &
Accessible Technology Fashion is a business in which copying
plays a major role in driving new styles and trends. Marc Jacobs
putting his own twist on a classic Chanel design; fashion on the
streets inspiring fashion on the runway; low-end retailers
democratizing high-end trends by selling more cheaply made
versions of designer apparel—these are all integral parts of the
fashion ecology. It is thanks to copying that trends have such a
frantic life cycle. They start by allowing all designers and
consumers to capitalize on what’s hot, without breaking the
bank. Just as quickly, trends fade away because they become
ubiquitous, because they have been copied too many times; this,
in turn, stimulates new innovation and design and the process
starts all over. This is the “piracy paradox” that law
professors Chris Sprigman and Kal Raustiala talk about in their
paper by the same name, addressing the possibility that copying
does not deter innovation but may act