Diane Von Furstenberg Sues Forever 21

You may remember that last week we posted about this Forever 21 Dress and how it had similarities to Chloe's wallpaper-esque black and white trend of 2005. Then, our good friends over at Shopdiary pointed out that it had in fact, been originally designed by Diane Von Furstenberg who in turn, is accusing Forever 21 of directly coping her "Cerisier" shift dress. Confused yet? Well, now it seems that the folks at DFV have had it with chain companies taking creative liberties with their work and have filed a lawsuit against Forever 21 for copyright infringement. The lawsuit also extends to their Aubrey design. At the same time, why just single one company out? DVF could very well sue everyone for copying their creations. We shall keep you posted on the outcome. [Via WWD]

martha

forever 21 made like 500 million dollars last year, and they're not only being sued by designers, but their own factory workers. I never like the store anyway and refuse to shop there.

ME that&aposs who

Who cares only something like 5 percent of the population can afford her designs any way and I not one of them. Forever 21 in no way cutting into their profits. It is not against the law to create a reproduction of a dress or shirt you like. It's been done before ever Oscar season a company takes the best of the Oscar dresses and recreates them a fair price. I like the idea. It gives people the opportunity to buy something they see their fav celeb wearing without having to take out a second mortgage. As long as a company doesn't use another logo them I like it's fine.

Mark

As Gella says, DVF doesn't have a legal leg to stand on as far as the garment design (the pattern, construction).

The fabric design is legitimately copyrightable, but the copy would have to be really close. It would be trivial for Forever 21 to change it enough to pass legal muster.

Gella

Sorry for the long post but here is some legal info:

Copyright protection is denied to garment designs due to the fact that garment designs are solely useful articles without any copyrightable elements. Useful articles are granted limited protection under the Copyright Act, provided there are elements of the pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work that may be identified separately and can exist independently of the utilitarian aspects of the article.[6] Since 1914, several bills[7] have been handed down to Congress advocating the protection of the designs of useful articles through copyright.[8] Such protection of garment designs has always been opposed, however, for to do otherwise, would arguably grant protection to a purely utilitarian article and pave the way for a monopolies in the apparel market.

jk

i shop at forever 21 plenty and i do NOT want to wear a replica of the real thing. i also shop at higher end places and i don't want to wear something that's 90% cheaper because it's fake/stolen. it just plain looks bad. maybe it's cause i'm from nyc and it's a fashion metropolis. it's not fair for dvf to have her ideas stolen and then produced for mass profit by forever 21. TRUST ME, forever 21 makes soooooooooooooooo much money. think about the lines you wait in everytime you shop there and why they're everywhere now. o, and don't forget their crappy "customer service" which means low-paid grumpy workers which means lower costs. it's like now ppl who can afford dvf are gonna be like "ew, i'm not buying that. i just saw a cheap ass copy of that on some girl" and u KNOW girls think like that. then dvf is forced to sell the clothes at a major discount so ppl will buy it. it's not fair for dvf. she designed it, copyrighted it and produced it. to have someone steal ur ideas is messed up. imagine you write a beautiful book of poems, managed to get it published on a small scale and then someone like walmart takes off the cover, puts on a new one and uses the same words, sell it way cheaper and makes a TON of money off of it. yes, dvf's clothes cost a lot but so what, that's HER business. if you can't afford it, that's your problem, NOT hers. she still has a client base that she aims for. all of you people that are complaining act like there isn't cute, good clothing out there for you to buy at a lower price. this comes from an IMPARTIAL PERSON that shops at both low and high end. besides, with all the money that forever21 is making, you're telling me they can't hire people who are able to think creatively on their own? don't be naive girls, forever21 is a million dollar company many, many times over. they KNEW they were stealing and did it anyway for profit. they stole an idea for free and then mass produced it and made a huge profit off of it. NONE of their items cost more than $3 USD to make in sweatshops in vietnam. they in turn sell it to you for $25. guess who's the GREEDY ones girls???!!! how do you think the walmart descendants are billionaires even though their stuff is discounted? it's one thing for inspiration, it's another for downright thievery.

Diane Von Furstenberg Sues Forever 21

Diane Von Furstenberg Sues Forever 21 - Comments

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