Fashionably IP

Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis began recording the Fashionably IP podcast back in May 2022 and have now produced and released fifty episodes. They have discussed and touched on multiple cases and issues relating to IP in the world of fashion. In this episode, they review the important concepts and cases, in their eyes, of the previous forty-nine episodes of the Fashionably IP podcast, addi...

Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis of HGF discuss the Phase II changes of EU Registered Design Law coming into force on 1st July 2026 and their impact on the world of fashion. There is a recap on the Phase I changes which came into force in May 2025 and a brief recap on the consultation on changes to UK design and copyright law which ended on 27th November 2025. Timestamps:  4:59 - What is the...

Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis of HGF discuss the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Faure Le Page case which concerned the use of a year in a trade mark, 1717, and whether that wrongly imparted heritage and prestige on the trade mark which could be viewed as deceptive and a basis for invalidity for a series of French trade mark registrations. Timestamps:...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis of HGF interview Professor Alexandra Roberts of Northeastern University in Boston on US trade dress law. What is trade dress? How can it be infringed? How does trade dress apply to the world of fashion? Timestamps: 4:28 - Can you explain what US trade dress is designed to protect? Do you have to register trade dress in the US to get protection? 10:18 - Could you explai...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the importance of personal names in the world of fashion and a recent decision of the CJEU concerning the registration of a trade mark relating to French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Did the use of the name JC de CASTELBAJAC post-registration, after the sale of the underlying business, lead to a trademark registration for the name to be invalid...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the concept of ‘overall impression’ in registered design law in the United Kingdom and European Union. Rebecca and Lee also discuss where a claimant was successful in an action for registered design infringement in a fashion case and how overall impression came into play. Timestamps: 1:34 – The concept of overall impression in UK and EU registered design law? 7...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview Theo Barclay of 4 New Square, who was the successful lead counsel for Dryrobe Limited, in the recent decision of the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) concerning trade mark infringement and passing off claims by Dryrobe Limited against Caesr Group Limited (trading as D-Robe Outdoors) and counterclaims by Caeser Group based on descriptiveness, gene...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the impact of Generative AI on online search and associated legal issues. The online search market has been stable for over twenty years. Will Generative AI change the way online search works and looks, and what are the implications for brand and trade mark owners? Timestamps: 2:17 The impact of AI online search with a focus on fashion retailers 4:21 - The way...

Overview:  Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleague Rachel Platts about the UKIPO’s consultation on proposed changes to UK design law and their impact on fashion design. We touch on possible changes to the UK design examination system, searches, the possible introduction of opposition procedures and dealing with bad faith filings. We also discuss important possible changes to dis...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the recent Opinion from Advocate General Emiliou in the Deity Shoes S.L. case. The case concerns whether fashion designs need ‘intellectual effort’ to benefit from EU Registered and Unregistered design protection and whether fashion trends impact the designer's freedom when considering the validity of designs. Timestamps: 2:13 can you provide some backgrou...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Simon Malynicz KC of Hogarth Chambers on the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in the Iconix vs Dream Pairs case.  We discuss the concept of post-sale confusion in the world of trade marks and as ever have a fashion spin. Timestamps: 3:14 - Summary of the Iconix case 10:45 - Has the Supreme Court helped define the limits of post-sale confusion...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barristers Andrew Norris KC and Becky Knott of Hogarth Chambers on the recent Sonia Edwards vs Boohoo design case. We also touch on the well-known Rihanna case and other notable fashion IP cases. Timestamps: 3.34 - Introduction to Andrew and Becky 4:22 - You acted for Boohoo in that case. Could you, Becky provide a brief summary of the case and the issues inv...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleagues Susanne Bilderbeek and Olivia Petter on smell-a-like perfumes and compare and contrast UK, Benelux and German trade mark and copyright case law on perfume comparison lists and smell-a-like perfumes. Timestaps: 4:54 So-called smell-alike perfumes case law 8:40 Smell-alike perfumes and German case law 15:00 Is there any UK case law on this

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview Professor Johanna Gibson of Queen Mary University of London. We touch on the new Fashion Law LLM, the first fashion law LLM in the United Kingdom and discuss fashion IP cases past, present and future. Timestamps: 6:49 - The new Fashion Law LLM at Queen Mary 10:28 - Historical fashion IP law case 21:09 – Supreme court

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Victoria Jones from the chambers 3PB in this edition of the Fashionably IP podcast on good practice in contentious proceedings before the UKIPO. Victoria provides tips on good practice in evidence and oral arguments and the benefits of using a barrister in UKIPO proceedings. Of course, the podcast will also have a fashion spin as always. Timestamps:...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Daniel Selmi of Three New Square in this edition of the Fashionably IP podcast on the concept of the informed user in UK and EU registered design law. Who is the informed user? How does the informed user impact the assessment of design infringement, validity of registered designs and prior art? Has the concept of the informed user impacted any fashi...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the often misunderstood concept of honest concurrent use and fashion brands in the United Kingdom. What is the history of this concept and how does it apply to the world of fashion brands? Timestamps: 2:44 - What is honest concurrent use under UK trade mark law? 8:19 - Fashion cases where the concept has been applied 9:57 – conclusions

Lee Curtis and Rebecca Field discuss the recent Thom Browne/Adidas decision of the English High Court concerning the battle of the three and four stripes. The decision was long and wide-ranging concerning invalidity, infringement, passing off, post-sale confusion and honest concurrent use in the world of fashion. Timestamps: 4:16 - the trade mark invalidity proceedings first and what the High Cour...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss non-use revocation actions and fashion brands in the United Kingdom and European Union. What constitutes use? Do you need to use a trade mark in the exact form of the registered trade mark? What are the valid reasons for non-use? Timestamps: 2:49 - The basics of Law 6:42 - Cases in the EU of non-use and trademarks in the UK and the EU 11:01 - Can anything be le...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the application of copyright to the world of fashion. Why is it harder to enforce copyright in fashion items in the US compared to the EU? How are fashion items protected by copyright in the UK? Timestamps: 2:16 - Copyright might naturally be thought to be a very apt IP right to apply to fashion, but why has it been generally difficult to apply such rights to t...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis provide a short history of fashion IP law. They discuss the differences between US, UK and EU fashion IP law and explain that many of the differences are down to history. Timestamps: 2:46 - Introduction to the development of IP law? 5:42 - History of fashion IP law? 10:57 - differing attitudes to the protection of fashion IP rights between Europe and the US 12:42 - Wha...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the IP rights applying to women’s shoes. Rebecca and Lee concentrate on probably the most famous women’s shoes of all, notably the red sole of Christian Louboutin. They discuss how the red sole was registered and some of the IP disputes surrounding that shoe in the EU and US. Timestamps: 2:49 - How was Christian Louboutin's red sole shoe registered in the...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss position trademarks in fashion. What are position trade marks and how easy or hard are they to register in the world of fashion. What happens when fashion position trademarks come into conflict? Timestamps: 3:02 – can you define what is a position trade mark? 6:35 - Recent cases which might suggest that the registration of position trade marks is getting harder...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the intellectual property rights which apply to perfume, why they are integral to the success of a fashion house and how they can be protected under IP law. Timestamps: 2:35 – why a perfume has historically been important to fashion houses. 5:05 – why is it not possible for the smell of perfumes, at present, to be protected under trademark law in the UK and EU?...

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the intellectual property rights that apply to jewellery, some recent cases on the protection of jewellery under trademark law, and also why all things that glitter as jewellery may not always be protectable under intellectual property law. Timestamps: 2:44 – Why jewellery is not a form of fashion which is apt for trade mark protection 7:49 – what types of IP p...