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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law with June Grosso and Michael Best on demand

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Speaker 1: via our Bloomberg Radio Plus app free for iPhone and

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Speaker 1: Android devices. John, Now, it's time for our daily Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law Brief, exploring legal issues in the news. Today, Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law host to Greg Store discusses a Supreme Court case

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Speaker 1: that will decide whether cheerleading uniforms can be copyrighted under

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Speaker 1: federal law. He speaks to Susan Scoffiti, director of the

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Speaker 1: Fashion Law Institute, and Christopher Buca Fusco, a professor at

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Speaker 1: Cardozo Law School who filed an amicus brief on the case. Susan,

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Speaker 1: let me start with you, and before we delve into

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Speaker 1: the issues in the case, let's just start with something basic.

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Speaker 1: What is the significance of copyright protection to the fashion industry?

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Speaker 1: In other words, how common is it for someone to

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Speaker 1: claim that a garment has copyright protection? Fashion actually has

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Speaker 1: very little copyright protection. But what has been established for

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Speaker 1: almost sixty years now is that surface designs, fabric prints,

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Speaker 1: lace patterns, those kinds of two dimensional designs definitely have

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Speaker 1: protection in fashion. And that is a big deal for

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Speaker 1: fashion designers again, because they have so little protection otherwise, Chris,

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Speaker 1: what's what's the core problem in this case with with

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Speaker 1: the varsity's claim of copyright protection? In your view, as presso,

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Speaker 1: Scopini said, there's an interesting challenge between two relatively well

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Speaker 1: accepted positions in copyright law. On the one hand, the

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Speaker 1: design of a garment is by all accounts agreed to

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Speaker 1: be not protectable because it's too functional, or least the

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Speaker 1: relationship between the function and the aesthetics of the garment

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Speaker 1: are too intricately interwoven. On the other hand, it's generally

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Speaker 1: accepted that, as Compedi Scopini says, the two dimensional designs

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Speaker 1: on say a fabric pattern, roses, flowers, things like that,

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Speaker 1: would be protectable if they're original. Uh So, the question

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Speaker 1: here then is what are these stripes and chevrons? And

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Speaker 1: our argument in the case is that even though they're

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Speaker 1: two dimensional, they still do important three dimensional work. They

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Speaker 1: still function three dimensionally because they influence the way the

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Speaker 1: wearer is perceived. Susan, I gather you don't agree with

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Speaker 1: that argument, Tell me where you think Chris went wrong.

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Speaker 1: You know, of course, everything that one wears influences the

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Speaker 1: way the wearer is perceived. Fashion is at base a

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Speaker 1: form of communication. It is creative communication at one level

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Speaker 1: from the designer, and then when it's worn, there is

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Speaker 1: a second level of communication that occurs um and so

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Speaker 1: the fact that the garment influences the way one is

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Speaker 1: perceived is almost a given, whether it's communicating that you

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Speaker 1: are married, or part of a particular profession, or a

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Speaker 1: fan of a particular sports team, or in this case

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Speaker 1: in some cases, a cheerleader. That is Susan Scaffiti, director

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Speaker 1: of the Fashion Law Institute, and Christopher book of Fusco,

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Speaker 1: professor at the card Dozo Lass School, speaking to Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law host Craig Store. You can listen to Bloomberg Law

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