New Year, New Term, Energised thinking.....

The last few weeks have seen research ticking over - accessing WestLaw and LexisNexis for key cases and statute information, I've also identified some key organisations tat I would like to speak to in connection to my research: Design and Artists Copyright Society, Anti Copyright in Design, UK Anti Counterfeiting Group, British Copyright Council. Right now I am organising my research into rough chapters before making my contacts for primary research - update to follow!

Marc Jacobs - Suing for pleasure

Google fashion king Marc Jacobs and the lawsuits that pop up are never ending, most recently he has taken on Christian Audigier’s Nervous Tattoo for a rather blatant infringement on his 'scrambed' logo design which appears on his nylon tote bag. That said, the injunction imposed by Jacobs is yet to be granted - what do you think?

The Piracy Paradox

Only 90 pages of notes to trawl through, every case and journal is like reading a small novel!

A couple of other journal titles which I'm trying to get hold of at the moment include:

-There is more than one way to skin a copycat: The emergence of trade dress to combat design piracy of fashion works (1996)
-Crimes of fashion: Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? (2010)
-Pirating the runway: The potential impact of the design piracy prohibition act on fashion retail
-Double edged scissor:Legal protection for fashion design

Coffee Spillage

As the title suggests, yes I did spill an entire mug of coffee over my laptop, yes it has utterly died, yes I have lost everything, no I didn't back it up and finally, yes I have learnt my lesson - I shall wrap my laptop in clingfilm in the future.

Re-researched articles to be posted this week.

'A paperless society', no can do!

Just a quick update on progress, have spent the last few days trawling through Google Scholar for relevant case notes and journals on my topic and there seems to be plenty of it. Will post details of specific case notes and key cases once I have read through the TRILLION print offs I now have - I just cant read these things on a screen.

On a lighter note I am craving some letter stencils. That's all.

Post Script

Also, I have just applied for my British Library's reader pass online so will be hot-footing it to central tomorrow to collect it!

Oh, and I shall be reading a 'tomb' on the way there just so that I can pretend to be a clever clogs (I doubt very much that I am the only one that does this......)

The Big Smoke versus The Big Apple

So research is progressing, today I felt like I had really started to get to grips with my topic which is a good place to start! In an effort to avoid picking up the absolute tombs on Intellectual Property blah blah blah that my newly accredited 'Bachelor of Law' sister has lent me (super proud, I've been cyber space researching.
There is so much garbage to sort through, research is clearly going to take its time, but I enjoy being a closet bookworm so no problems there. The issue that has really caught my attention today is the divide in legal policies between Europe and the USA. Whilst the EU imposes relatively strict IP laws, the US has virtually nothing - so I'm pondering exactly how these two opposing systems don't produce a greater divide in terms of innovation/trend cycles etc.
The US has been procrastinating over a Design Piracy Act (DPA) but it isn't deemed a priority and so Stateside designers continue with near non-existent legal protection.
This is my first really juicy bit to get stuck into, dig up cases, contact law firms and see if I can identify an extrinsic factor which facilitates trend cycles or whether the US or the EU fairs better in respect of their legal statutes.

God that all sounded a bit heavy, it's not boring I promise!