Africa Fashion Law

In the fashion industry, the design procress from the design concept to the actual production takes a reasonable amount of time. Most fashion designers make critical research before producing any design. A lot of designers basically work on vintage designs or other designers design and give the design a unique alteration. The question now is, will a designer be able to get a copyright protection if the altered design is seen as a derivative work under the law? Copyright law protects original creative works. Exclusive rights are provided for the creator of original works; rights to produce the work, rights to distribute the work, rights to display the work and rights to prepare 'derivative works' based upon the original work. A derivative work is a new, original product that includes pre-existing, already copyrighted work. This type of work is often debated for a couple of reasons: 1-It is a copyrightable subject matter 2-You can only legally produce a derivative work of ...

This is a frequently asked question among fashion designers, Well there is no need to worry anymore because this article answers the question. A designer can protect a design through the copyright protection  or the design protection. Copyright is a legal means of protecting an original work. Section 1 of the Copyright Act in Nigeria makes provision for 'works' that can apply the copyright protection. Many designs for fashion products will fall under 'artistic works'. For a design to be protected under copyright, it must satisfy the following conditions: the design must be an artistic work (a sketch/a painting), the design must be original and should not be copied. Copyright for a design arises once these conditions are satisfied. Copyright protection lasts all through the designer's/author's lifetime plus 70 years. There really is no need for a copyright registration but a designer can register if he/She wishes to do so. Another way a designer can prot...