http://forum.purseblog.com/handbags-and-purses/advice-needed-please-10406-2.html
post 24:
What do you think, Ladies???
post 24:
What do you think, Ladies???
Yikes!!!!
- Thread starter Rose
- Start date
i would say yes. in nyc there are dozens of stores that have absolutely no name but sell look-a-like bags. i passed 2 today just going around 1 block (from 56th, walking up 6th ave, i passed one, then turned the corner and there's another on 57th heading towards 5th). hermes is very aggressive about actual fakes - bags with their stampings on them, bags stating that they are from hermes, and they really came down hard on the production of jelly kelly bags a few summers ago - so clearly on hermes, i wonder if the name "kelly" in association with one of their designs (birkin), even though it was reconceived in rubber, was what gave them grounds to shut it down - or if they even had a legal right to shut it down - perhaps just threatening a lawsuit was enough to inhibit production as legal costs can be prohibitively expensive to a small company. not a peep about these stores though, so based on that, i assume that there is no copyright infringement.
Thank you for that gracious and courteous response, HiHeels. You're a true lady.
thank you, that's a nice thing to say.
actually it may not be legal -- when a design has become "iconic" it can be considered "trade dress," which is subject to and protected by intellectual property law. i'm not an expert in this area, but the kelly and birkin are often used to explain the concept of trade dress -- which leads me to believe copying those designs may not be OK.
Yes, it would be interesting to know what exactly is protected by copyright, and if a design needs to be changed in a certain way to be an 'inspired' design rather than a 'copied' design other than just not using the designer 'stamp'.
rose, it can actually be a rather difficult question to answer, as there are several components to the test -- but i believe the thresshold question is whether the design (or packaging) has become imbedded in the public consciesness as an indication of its origin/maker. for example, the design of a coke bottle indicates coca cola and not some other soft drinks company. similarly, the design of a birkin pretty much makes people think "hermes." in a trial on the matter, whether something has achieved this status will be a matter of fact for the jury to determine -- and in new york there have been at least two jury trials where it was found that certain hermes designs do constitute trade dress.
http://www.kirkland.com/ourfirm/docs/trademark_copyright.pdf#search='trade dress hermes'
so it would seem that to be legal an "inspired" design -- at least for the kelly and the birkin -- cannot be exact copies. make the straps wider, the handles longer, the dimensions different, and you may be OK. but based on my limited bit of poking around the internet it looks like the imposters are illegal. soi would guess the questions is something like whether someone seeing the inspired bag might THINK of of hermes, the source of the inspiration, or whether they see it and think it actually IS an hermes birkin or kelly.
http://www.kirkland.com/ourfirm/docs/trademark_copyright.pdf#search='trade dress hermes'
so it would seem that to be legal an "inspired" design -- at least for the kelly and the birkin -- cannot be exact copies. make the straps wider, the handles longer, the dimensions different, and you may be OK. but based on my limited bit of poking around the internet it looks like the imposters are illegal. soi would guess the questions is something like whether someone seeing the inspired bag might THINK of of hermes, the source of the inspiration, or whether they see it and think it actually IS an hermes birkin or kelly.
Thanks DQ, it seems to be a vague area but it makes me a bit 'uncomfortable'. There does not seem to be set laws for 'inspired' bags to abide by but I guess the design houses decide what they can abide by and prosecute when they feel that someone has overstepped the boundries.