The Handbook of Fashion Law

Over the past few years, 'fashion law' has emerged as a vibrant field of inquiry. The legal and policy issues affecting the fashion sector have been investigated with increasing intensity, while a growing number of private practice lawyers and in-house counsel regard themselves as practising fashion law. But what is fashion law? And what are the specific legal challenges facing the fashion sector, as well as related solutions? The Handbook of Fashion Law seeks to answer these questions by bringing together multiple voices, approaches, and jurisdictions.

Its contributions are organized into four thematic areas. Part I considers the legal infrastructure of the fashion and luxury industries, addressing issues related to intellectual property (IP) as well as the demands of the circular economy, protection of cultural heritage, and freedom of expression and information. Part II maps the IP dimensions of fashion by reviewing the application of design rights, copyright, trade marks, geographical indications, plant variety rights, and trade secrets. Part III analyses specific contractual issues arising in the fashion sector. It examines the application of principles and rules found in regulatory frameworks, including those governing advertising, competition, consumer, and tax laws. Finally, Part IV dissects and evaluates the role of new and emerging technologies in the fashion sector from a legal perspective. It considers concepts such as e-commerce, 3D printing, counterfeiting, artificial intelligence, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the metaverse, gaming, and wearable technology.

The Handbook of Fashion Law offers readers a multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional understanding of legal challenges facing the fashion sector. Bringing together a diverse range of experts, its contributions offer readers an in-depth, critical, and strategic understanding of the fashion industry's legal intricacies.

Eleonora Rosati, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Stockholm University,Irene Calboli, Regents Professor, Texas A&M University School of Law

Eleonora Rosati is Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Stockholm University, Glion Institute of Higher Education (GIHE) Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer, and Of Counsel at Bird & Bird. She is Editor of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (Oxford University Press), long-standing contributor to The IPKat, and Co-Founder of Fashion Law London. She also holds visiting academic positions at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Queen Mary University of London, CEIPI-Université de Strasbourg, and EDHEC Business School. The author of several scholarly articles and books on IP issues, Eleonora regularly engages with institutional actors and private stakeholders to tackle new and emerging legal, regulatory, and policy issues. She has received multiple accolades and prizes for her work in the IP field and has been featured in prominent media outlets, including inter alia The New York Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, CNN, BBC, and Politico.


Irene Calboli is Regents Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law. She holds several honorary and visiting appointments, including at the University of Geneva, the University of Bologna, Sciences Po Paris, Bocconi University, Melbourne University, and Stanford University. In 2022, she was a Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair in Business and Economics in Finland. She is a member of the editorial board of the Oxford Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, the Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, and the WIPO-WTO Colloquium Papers. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the European Law Institute. She serves on the board of several professional organizations and associations and is an Expert for the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Trade Organization, the UN International Trade Centre, and the European Union.

Foreword, Maciej SzpunarIntroduction: The rise and consolidation of fashion law as a field of practice, study, and research, Eleonora Rosati and Irene CalboliPart I- The (Developing) Infrastructure of the Fashion and Luxury Industries: intellectual property and beyond1. The Legal Protection of Fashion as Intellectual Property: An international perspective, Tobias Bednarz and Galatea Kapellakou2. Cross-border Enforcement of IP Rights in the Fashion Sector, Giovanni Casucci3. The Role, Responsibility, and Liability of Online Intermediaries under EU IP Law, Eleonora Rosati4. Intellectual Property, Sustainability, and the Circular Economy: Friends or foes in the fashion industry?, Irene Calboli and Margherita Corrado5. Fashion Waste, Trademark Protection, and the Circular Economy: Towards a new public domain for sustainable reuse, Martin Senftleben6. The Rise and Lawfulness of Fast Fashion, Sunniva Hansson7. Design and Fashion: Procrustean metaphors in intellectual property law, Maria Mercedes Frabboni and Uma Suthersanen8. The Cultural Heritage and Cultural Appropriation of Fashion Assets, Felicia Caponigri9. Fashion Statement: Offensive trademarks and fashion in the U.S., Megan CarpenterPart II- Protecting Fashion: Mapping the intellectual property dimension10. Using Design Law to Protect Inventive Fashion in the UK and EU, David Stone11. Design Patents in the Fashion Industry: A U.S. perspective, Irene Calboli and Gabrielle Armstrong12. Works of Artistic Craftsmanship in Post-Brexit UK, Richard Arnold13. The 'Artistic Value' Requirement in Italy after Cofemel, Fabrizio Sanna14. The Treatment of Works of Applied Art under Portuguese Law in the Post-Cofemel Era, Maria Victória Rocha15. Prêt-à-protect or Prêt-à-copy? Fashion copyright in the United States, Justin Hughes16. The Protection of Well-known Fashion Trade Marks, Gordon Humphreys and Katarzyna Zajfert17. Legal Protection of Luxury Fashion Brands under EU Trade Mark Law, Michal Bohaczewski18. Non-traditional Fashion Trademarks: To protect or not to protect? Comparative examples, Irene Calboli19. The Practical Challenges of Obtaining and Maintaining 3D Trade Mark Registrations from an EU Perspective, Carlo Sala and Andrea De Gaspari20. Geographical Indications in the Fashion Industry: Safeguarding knowledge and culture or fuelling trade unfair competition, Suelen Carls and Alberto Ribeiro de Almeida21. Patents in the Fashion Industry, Krystyna Szczepanowska-Kozlowska22. Plant Variety Rights for Sustainable Fashion, Pilar Montero and Pilar Íñiguez23. Fast Secrets: Trade secrets in fashion, Camilla A. HrdyPart III - Contractual, Competition, and Regulatory Issues in the Fashion Industry24. Licensing and Merchandising of Fashion Assets, Manon Rieger-Jansen and Nina Dorenbosch25. Collaboration of (or with) Well-known Trademarks as a Strategy for Strengthening Market Power in the Luxury Fashion Field, Cristiana Sappa26. Contracts of Creative Fashion Workers, Nicola Lanna27. Competition Law and the Fashion Industry: Limits to brand management, Susanne Augenhofer and Giorgio Monti28. Regulatory and Legal Considerations Relating to Influencer Marketing from a UK Perspective, Kelsey Farish and Kate Loxton29. Misleading and Comparative Advertising in the Fashion Sector, Carina Gommers, Joanne Gibbs, and Eva de Pauw30. Greenwashing and Sustainability Claims, Rita Tardiolo31. Consumer Protection in the Fashion Industry from an EU Perspective, Jorge Morais Carvalho and Maria Miguel Oliveira da Silva32. Building a Successful Fashion Brand: A corporate and tax law perspective, Xuan-Thao NguyenPart IV - Tech and Fashion: Legal challenges and solutions33. Ecommerce and Data Protection Issues in the Fashion Industry, Giulia Gasparin34. Legal Implications of 3D Printing in Fashion, Dinusha Mendis35. Counterfeiting: technological and legal tools, Frederick Mostert and Wei Ting Yeoh36. 'Algorithm Fashion': An EU perspective on copyright-related challenges to anticipating consumers' spending decisions, Eleonora Rosati37. The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Fashion Sector: A moral rights perspective, Heidi Härkönen38. Fashion Brands in the Metaverse: Legal and policy implications, Christoph Bartos39. Fashion Tokens, Brian Frye40. Fashion, Gaming, and Intellectual Property, Trevor Cook41. Giving Surveillance Capitalism a Makeover: Wearable technology in the fashion industry and the challenges for privacy and data protection law, Guido Noto La Diega, Tania Phipps-Rufus, Benjamin Clubbs Coldron, and Tabea Stolte