It has become common for high street stores to offer cut-price versions of couture fashion, but top designers are starting to take steps to protect their ideas, writes Catherine Baksi

As the designers, models and fashionistas gather for London Fashion Week next week, sharp-suited lawyers will be strutting their legal stuff alongside the catwalks.


But as haute couture comes to the high street, with cut-price retailers and supermarkets imitating the catwalk designs to create affordable ranges that make us all look like Sienna Miller or David Beckham – and faster than you can say Manolo Blahnik – a good lawyer is becoming every designer’s must-have accessory.


High-profile wrangles between fashion houses and retailers are hitting the headlines with increasing frequency, as designers send out a message that they no longer find imitation flattering.


Tesco’s Florence & Fred summer collection caused a stir earlier this year when it featured a £35 blue Grecio-style dress that closely resembled a green chiffon dress from luxury French fashion house Chloe, costing £948. The supermarket denied claims that the dress had been copied.


Bohemian high street retailer Monsoon received a £23,000 out-of-court settlement from cut-price clothing chain Primark this spring over the alleged copying of certain items.


The industry is also currently waiting for a case between Chloe and high street chain Kookai to reach the court: Chloe alleges that Kookai’s £35 ‘whip stitch pocket bag’ is a copy of its snakeskin Silverado bag, which sells for more than £1,000.


But fashion law covers more than litigation over copycat clothing. Simon Ayrton, partner at London intellectual property firm Bristows, explains: ‘Broadly it involves providing advice on intellectual property and commercial matters to fashion houses, designers, manufacturers, distributors, model agencies, retailers, photographers and models.


‘It covers everything from branding, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, to the non-contentious commercial side, such as licensing, manufacturing and distribution contracts, and agency and franchise agreements.’


Due to the increase in the amount of work emanating from fashion and design clients, London firms such as Withers, Fox Williams and Harbottle & Lewis have established dedicated groups to serve the industry.


Stephen Sidkin, who leads the cross-departmental fashion team at Fox Williams, says: ‘We act for all the legal and business needs of our fashion clients, covering mergers and acquisitions work, employment issues, infringement of copyright, design right or the common law concept of passing-off, to contractual disputes, and advising on trade marks and concession agreements. Our property team advises on the acquisition or disposal of leases, warehouses and distribution centres.’


Hugh Devlin, head of the luxury brands group at Withers, says: ‘We provide what the Americans call a vertically integrated service – from the time the designer has the “light bulb” concept to the point the item leaves the store in a carrier bag, we are involved at every stage.


‘Part of the reason we got involved in fashion was because we had a large Italian practice and did work with luxury brands – we started out doing the manufacturing and licensing agreements in Italy for Valentino, Max Mara and Vivienne Westwood.’


‘We get involved when designers do consultancy work, with capital raisings by designer brands, collaboration agreements, advertising, and brand management and development. In addition, we effect links between the designers, franchises, manufacturers and suppliers to ensure they are in touch with the right people. This work is all about getting the best deals. I am a corporate finance lawyer; I make deals.’


Robin Fry, a partner at national law firm Beachroft Wansbroughs, who has acted for leading designers such as Catherine Hamnett and Bella Freud, explains the recent surge in fashion-related work: ‘In the last three years, the concept of “fast fashion” has emerged. Some high street stores bring out new ranges every six weeks, while couture designers have a longer lead time – catwalk shows in September for delivery of the spring/summer ranges – which gives competitors a long time to imitate the designs.’


Simon Clark, head of intellectual property at City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, is the director and co-founder of trade organisation Anti Copying in Design (ACID). He says: ‘The Internet and the quality and speed of Far East manufacturers makes it possible to get copies onto the high street before the original couture items have hit the market. Before, designers tended not to take action. But now they have started to stand up for themselves and more cases are going to court.’


Another important factor, he says, is the introduction of new European design laws that have made it easier, cheaper and faster for designers to protect their work. ‘UK law had become very complicated and designers had given up on it. But they are starting to see that the new law is easy to understand and can help them.’


Nicola Soloman, head of intellectual property at Finers Stephens Innocent, who acted for Monsoon in its claim against Primark, says the regulations which came into force in 2003 are very flexible, although many of the provisions have yet to be tested.


‘One huge feature of these cases is that they settle. The fast-moving, cyclical nature of the industry means that if a line is not very important, or where the copying is on a small scale, it may not be worth suing.’


Mr Fry says: ‘We need a few more high-profile cases to go to court. The law is still complicated. There are several ways to protect rights: copyright; unregistered and registered design rights; European Community registered and unregistered design; passing-off; and trade marks.


‘While there is a distinction between legitimate catwalk-inspired designs and copying, the dilemma for the fashion industry is that everything is derivative – rarely is there something new under the sun.’


Mr Ayrton observes that the law is neither understood nor well used by the fashion industry. ‘Designers are a unique type – they tend to be totally design orientated, without much interest or knowledge in the business side.’


Sandi Kurkdjian, partner and head of the fashion group at Harbottle & Lewis, agrees: ‘We are working with creative people who aren’t used to using lawyers.’ Ultimately, though, she puts the increase in work down to the pervasive effect of the cult of celebrity. ‘Fashion and labels are everywhere. People are more aware of designers and more interested in fashion,’ she says.


Rebecca Swindells, an intellectual property litigation associate at Addleshaw Goddard in London, says: ‘This area of law has become more important now as the public is so much more brand aware. Everyone wants to look like a film star, but without paying for it.’


Some of the larger design houses and retailers have their own in-house legal teams. Stuart Lockyear is director of intellectual property at Burberry – purveyors of quintessentially British style.


‘Burberry has a dedicated intellectual property department, which demonstrates how seriously we take it. There are two lawyers and two trade mark attorneys in the UK team, and we also have two lawyers in New York, two in Barcelona, three in Hong Kong and one in Japan.


‘Our work is 10% protection and 90% enforcement. The issues range from large-scale counterfeiting operations with global reach, to single eBay sellers trading one counterfeit product, to parallel importing.’ This occurs when the company has a specific range directed to and sold exclusively in a certain country, which is then bought and exported to another country without authorisation.


Mr Lockyear says Burberry has an extensive trade mark portfolio, with the famous Burberry check registered as a trade mark through out the world. ‘Burberry has spent very nearly 150 years building its brand value. We have a world-renowned design team with a unique and distinctive style. That investment would be for nothing if we permitted others to steal our hard work – or to apply our name to their cheap and shoddy goods.’


He says one of the things he likes is the international aspect of his role. ‘A typical day involves a conference call with the team in Hong Kong dealing with Asia-Pacific in the morning, then in the afternoon I speak to Europe and in the evening to the team in the US.’


At the more inclusive end of the scale, Heather MacRae is an in-house solicitor at high street giant Marks & Spencer. She says: ‘We have a 12-lawyer in-house team and part of our work involves intellectual property. We protect our designs through design registration, trade mark registration, patents for technical innovations and copyright.’


She adds: ‘There is an increasingly competitive environment where customers expect to see catwalk-inspired designs reach their local stores quickly and at prices they can afford. This puts pressure on retailers to ensure that they can satisfy customer expectations whilst staying on the right side of the line.’ She emphasises: ‘Marks & Spencer is about innovation, not imitation.’


But does a little copying of an expensive luxury label really harm anyone? According to the experts, the answer is most definitely yes. A report by Interpol found that the trade in counterfeit goods can be used to finance terrorism and organised crime. The report concluded that intellectual property crime was becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups. Mr Devlin says: ‘The message we need to get across is that if you buy fake designer handbags, you could be indirectly financing terrorism.’


As another consequence, Mr Clark gives the example of handbag designer Liza Bruce, who went out of business after a high street store started selling a £20 bag similar to one of hers that sold for £120. He says: ‘People who buy her bags do not expect to see the same stuff in the high street – if a brand is diluted, people stop buying it.’


How glamorous is the role of fashion lawyer? Jamie Singer, partner at Onside Law, which advises models and model agencies, says: ‘Sitting in a waiting room with lots of long-legged models is certainly not a hardship. I generally arrive early to those appointments.’


Mr Clark admits to reading Heat magazine weekly. ‘It’s a useful place to see what’s going on. It has sections like “buy the same for less” and “get the look”, showing where people can buy similar clothes to those worn by celebrities.’


He insists that attending the shows is hard work. ‘At London Fashion Week, they are spread across 20 halls and there's a lot of rushing around. There aren’t as many perks as you’d like, but you do get some quirky items. My room is full of handbags and I have more than 50 teddy bears stacked up.’


But there are dangers. Ms Soloman says she has to be careful not to trip over shoes and handbags when she goes into her office, and people think her male colleague is a transvestite.


Ms Swindells admits: ‘I do spend a lot of time shopping and my boss definitely has a shoe problem. I think we are both fashion victims.’


Mr Devlin warns: ‘You do get to go to good parties, but if you go into this work for the glamour, you are going to screw up. It is a very specialised area, and it is important to understand how the industry works. One needs to understand the subtleties and nuances of a brand and its full strategy, and be able to distinguish between the work of different designers.’


Mr Ayrton, who has worked for handbag designer Gary Mann and accessories designer Tatty Devine, finds all intellectual property work glamorous. ‘The issues are fascinating and go beyond the stale legal issues you typically come across in other fields,’ he says.


Other hardships could put off lesser mortals; as Mr Fry points out: ‘You do have to go shopping an awful lot.’


Demonstrating what a tough job it is, Ms Kurkdjian confesses: ‘I love clothes and I love fashion. It’s fantastic to be reading In Style or Vogue and actually be working.’