Forever 21 Sued For Copying Design Of $500 Coat
The maker of a nearly $500 coat has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against California-based Forever 21 over the sale of an alleged copycat coat. The lawsuit comes after Forever 21 announced it is closing 200 stores, laying off more than 350 people, and filing for bankruptcy for the second time. The company originally filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Understated Leather Ltd., filed their complaint on February 26 in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas against Forever 21 for copyright infringement of a coat that allegedly copies Understated’s original design. Forever 21 has yet to file a response to the lawsuit or make a comment on the lawsuit. Understated received a federal copyright registration for the design on the Moon Glow Coat known as the Stillwater copyright in January 2023.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges that in July 2023, the plaintiff discovered Forever 21 was selling a coat identical to the Moon Glow Coat. This coat incorporated all the Moon Glow Coat’s original hand drawn embroidered details in nine different colors.
The lawsuit contends that Forever 21 sold the infringing coats at Forever 21 stores in Austin, TX at the Domain and Barton Creek square. The Moon Glow Coat is sold exclusively through Free People for approximately $498. This exclusivity agreement led Free People to place substantial orders for the product, which Understated relied on for its sales, the lawsuit maintains. Due to Forever 21’s alleged infringement, Free People stopped all wholesale orders, leading to significant losses for the much smaller company. Understated maintains this was an intentional act of theft.
Can you copyright a clothing design?
That depends specifically on what you are trying to copyright. Individual aspects of a fashion design can be copyrighted by the original creator. In the context of the law, a fashion design could connote a number of things. It could refer to sketches. It could mean a signature color. It could mean the way fabric and other elements of design are cut and pieced together. It could mean the graphic designs that appear on the clothing. It could also mean the design imprinted into the fabric. Some of these elements are copyrightable, while other elements are not.
For example, you cannot copyright a color but you can copyright sketches of an original design. If you create original sketches of your designs, those sketches are protected by copyright law, which means that no one could copy, distribute, or publicly display your sketch without permission. Copyrights protect original expressions, not ideas. So the protection would be in the drawing itself, not the underlying idea behind the drawing. So it wouldn’t necessarily prevent others from creating fashions that spin off of your sketch.
Talk to a Columbus OH copyright infringement attorney today
Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC represents the interests of plaintiffs and defendants in copyright infringement lawsuits. Call our Columbus consumer lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we could begin discussing your lawsuit immediately.
Source:
law.com/texaslawyer/2025/02/28/with-bankruptcy-looming-forever-21-faces-copyright-lawsuit/?slreturn=20250304115703
