As long as creatives exist, there will be plagiarists who seek to take credit for their work, masking their own lack of talent with theft.
That doesn’t make being the victim of plagiarism sting any less, particularly when it’s done by a major brand. Creative work is, by its nature, deeply personal. Every artist puts something of themselves into their work.
When someone tries to claim that work as their own, it’s as if they’ve stolen part of the artist’s identity. Unfortunately, for all the Internet has brought the world together and given independent artists a platform on which to sell their work, it’s also made plagiarism easier than ever. Maybe that’s why so many large clothing outlets think they can get away with it.
Maybe that’s why the fashion industry is, at the current moment, a cesspool of stolen art.
“Saying there are hundreds of instances [of art theft] would be an understatement,” writes fashion correspondent Chavie Lieber. “Big fashion brands rip off small ones all the time, the most prolific offenders being fast-fashion companies, whose entire business model revolves around copying trends and bringing them to market quickly…this is also a practice in luxury fashion.”
The problem, concludes Lieber, can ultimately be traced back to outdated copyright law in the United States. The fashion industry, she explains, is not subject to the same protections as other creative works. She’s right, and this does need to change.
Yet copyright law is only part of the equation. The real problem is that the brands that most consistently engage in this form of theft are too big to care. Even if an independent artist or designer has the wherewithal and legal standing to prove their work has been stolen, whatever penalty the brand suffers will amount to little more than a slap on the wrist.
The penalties for copyright theft are, for a major brand, effectively a slap on the wrist.
Just take a look at what happened with fashion brand Zara in 2016. As reported by the digital magazine The Cut, when the international clothing brand was first confronted by independent artist and designer Tuesday Bassen, their legal team essentially told her that she wasn’t famous enough for them to have stolen her designs. This was after she strained her finances to spend $2000 on legal fees.
For independent artists and small companies, a fight like this is an uphill battle that can completely drain their budget. For multi-billion dollar brands, however, it’s hardly a drop in the bucket. In the unlikely event that Zara does suffer legal penalties for infringing Bassen’s work, it would barely leave a dent in its annual turnover.
Per Purdue University, the penalties for copyright infringement are as follows:
- The infringer must pay the actual amount of damages and profits.
- The infringer must pay $200-150,000 for each infringed work.
- The infringer must pay for attorney fees and court costs.
- The infringer may be subject to a court injunction to stop duplicating the copyrighted work.
- The infringed works may be impounded by the court.
- The infringer may be subject to jail time.
Given that the last one is extremely unlikely for a major brand, the rest of the penalties barely even qualify as a slap on the wrist. Consider that, per news publication The Independent, Zara posted profits of over $3 billion for the financial year ending January 2019. They and companies like them don’t care about copyright infringement because they can afford not to.
Until there are more realistic penalties for art theft and copyright infringement, this will continue to be the case.
In the meantime, as an artist, there are a few things you can do to at least partially protect yourself against plagiarists, per artist-focused publication Creative Resources:
- Keep accurate records of your copyrighted works.
- Include copyrights on all the work you upload.
- Monitor for infringement through a tool like Binded.
- Register your designs with the U.S. Copyright Office.
- Understand the copyright process for the websites on which your work is hosted.
Read our other blog post or more information on T-shirt copyright laws.