To amend title 17, United States Code, to
provide protection for fashion design.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED
STATES
August 2, 2007
Mr. Schumer (for himself,
Mrs. Hutchison, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr.
Hatch, Mr. Whitehouse,
Mr. Graham, Mr.
Kohl, Mrs. Clinton, and
Ms. Snowe) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 17, United States Code, to
provide protection for fashion design.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1.Short title.
This Act may be cited as the
“Design Piracy Prohibition
Act”.
SEC. 2.Protection for fashion design.
(a) Designs protected.—Section 1301 of title 17, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the
following:
“(3) FASHION
DESIGN.—A fashion design is
subject to protection under this
chapter.”;
and
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) in paragraph (2), by inserting “or an
article of apparel,” after “plug or mold,”; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
“(7) A ‘fashion design’ is the
appearance as a whole of an article of apparel, including its
ornamentation.
“(8) The term ‘design’ includes
fashion design, except to the extent expressly limited to the design of a
vessel.
“(9) The term ‘apparel’ means—
“(A) an article of men’s, women’s, or children’s
clothing, including undergarments, outerwear, gloves, footwear, and
headgear;
“(B) handbags, purses, and tote bags;
“(C) belts; and
“(D) eyeglass
frames.”.
(b) Designs not subject to
protection.—Section 1302 of
title 17, United States Code, is amended in paragraph (5)—
(1) by striking “(5)” and
inserting “(5)(A) in the case of a design of a vessel
hull,”;
(2) by striking the period and inserting
“; or”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(B) in the case of a fashion design, embodied
in a useful article that was made public by the designer or owner in the United
States or a foreign country more than 3 months before the date of the
application for registration under this
chapter.”.
(c) Term of protection.—Section 1305(a) of title 17, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
“(a) In general.—Subject to subsection (b), the protection
provided under this chapter—
“(1) for a design of a vessel hull shall
continue for a term of 10 years beginning on the date of the commencement of
protection under section 1304; and
“(2) for a fashion design shall continue for a
term of 3 years beginning on the date of the commencement of protection under
section
1304.”.
(d) Infringement.—Section 1309 of title 17, United States
Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (c), by striking “that
a design was protected” and inserting “or reasonable grounds to
know that protection for the design is claimed”;
(2) in subsection (e)—
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting
“or from an image thereof,” after “copied from a design
protected under this chapter,”;
(B) in the third sentence, by striking “A
design” and inserting “In the case of a design of a vessel hull, a
design”; and
(C) by adding after the third sentence the
following: “In the case of a fashion design, a design shall not be deemed
to have been copied from a protected design if it is original and not closely
and substantially similar in overall visual appearance to a protected
design.”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(h) Secondary liability.—The doctrines of secondary infringement and
secondary liability that are applied in actions under chapter 5 of this title
apply to the same extent to actions under this chapter. Any person who is
liable under either such doctrine under this chapter is subject to all the
remedies provided under this chapter, including those attributable to any
underlying or resulting
infringement.”.
(e) Application for registration.—Section 1310 of title 17, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking the first
sentence and inserting the following:
“(1) VESSEL HULL DESIGN.—In the case of a design of a vessel hull,
protection under this chapter shall be lost if application for registration of
the design is not made within 2 years after the date on which the design is
first made public.
“(2) FASHION
DESIGN.—In the case of a
fashion design, protection under this chapter shall be lost if application for
registration of the design is not made within 3 months after the date on which
the design is first made public.”;
and
(2) in subsection (b), by striking “for
sale” and inserting “for individual or public sale”.
(f) Examination of application and issue or
refusal of registration.—Section 1313(a) of title 17, United
States Code, is amended by striking “subject to protection under this
chapter” and inserting “within the subject matter protected under
this chapter”.
(g) Recovery for infringement.—Section 1323(a) of title 17, United States
Code, is amended by striking “$50,000 or $1 per copy” and
inserting “$250,000 or $5 per copy”.
(h) Other rights not affected.—Section 1330 of title 17, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking
“or” after the semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period
and inserting “; or”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(3) any rights that may exist under provisions
of this title other than this
chapter.”.