Explore every episode of the podcast Fashionably IP
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| Social media influencers and liability in the world of fashion: The Georgia Aldridge case | 13 Aug 2026 | 00:23:00 | |
Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview Theo Barclay of 4 New Square on the recent IPEC case of Fendi Italia SRL, Loewe S.A., Christian Dior Couture S.A, Celine S.A and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE against Rolo Fashion Limited and Georgia Aldridge regarding the sale of non-genuine branded fashion products by the social media influencer Georgia Aldridge. We delve into the facts of the case, how the enquiry as to damages was made, and some practical tips for brand owners and, indeed, influencers in the world of fashion social media influencing. Timestamps:
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| When is a design considered new and having individual character under UK and EU Design law? | 16 Jul 2026 | 00:14:44 | |
Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss when EU Registered and Unregistered Designs and UK Supplemental Unregistered Design Rights are considered to be new and to have individual character. These are important concepts when considering the validity of such rights. Rebecca and Lee apply those concepts to two fashion IP cases. Timestamps:
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| The Fashionably IP podcast reaches its 50th episode! | 11 Jun 2026 | 00:15:57 | |
Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis began recording the Fashionably IP podcast back in May 2022 and have now produced and released fifty episodes. They have discussed and touched on multiple cases and issues relating to IP in the world of fashion. In this episode, they review the important concepts and cases, in their eyes, of the previous forty-nine episodes of the Fashionably IP podcast, adding some hindsight and new comments. Timestamps:
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| What are the practical implications of the reform of EU Design Law coming into force on 1st July 2026? | 14 May 2026 | 00:15:49 | |
Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis of HGF discuss the Phase II changes of EU Registered Design Law coming into force on 1st July 2026 and their impact on the world of fashion. There is a recap on the Phase I changes which came into force in May 2025 and a brief recap on the consultation on changes to UK design and copyright law which ended on 27th November 2025. Timestamps:
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| Can a fashion trade mark be deemed inherently deceptive by use of a year within it? | 16 Apr 2026 | 00:16:06 | |
Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis of HGF discuss the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Faure Le Page case which concerned the use of a year in a trade mark, 1717, and whether that wrongly imparted heritage and prestige on the trade mark which could be viewed as deceptive and a basis for invalidity for a series of French trade mark registrations. Timestamps:
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| What is US trade dress law and how does it apply to the world of fashion? | 12 Mar 2026 | 00:20:21 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis of HGF interview Professor Alexandra Roberts of Northeastern University in Boston on US trade dress law. What is trade dress? How can it be infringed? How does trade dress apply to the world of fashion? Timestamps:
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| Can a trade mark registration for fashion designers name be deemed deceptive? | 12 Feb 2026 | 00:18:39 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the importance of personal names in the world of fashion and a recent decision of the CJEU concerning the registration of a trade mark relating to French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Did the use of the name JC de CASTELBAJAC post-registration, after the sale of the underlying business, lead to a trademark registration for the name to be invalidated on the basis of deceptiveness? Is this decision contrary to the well-known decision relating to the name ELIZABETH EMANUEL, or does it build on that earlier decision? Timestamps:
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| The concept of ‘overall impression’ in UK and EU Registered Design Law | 15 Jan 2026 | 00:12:49 | |
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| The Dryrobe case: When is a trade mark generic? An interview with Theo Barclay | 17 Dec 2025 | 00:26:38 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview Theo Barclay of 4 New Square, who was the successful lead counsel for Dryrobe Limited, in the recent decision of the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) concerning trade mark infringement and passing off claims by Dryrobe Limited against Caesr Group Limited (trading as D-Robe Outdoors) and counterclaims by Caeser Group based on descriptiveness, genericism and non-use. The case is particularly interesting as it is one of the few UK trade mark cases concerning genericism and it concerns an item of fashion. | |||
| The impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on online search in the fashion and beauty sectors | 13 Nov 2025 | 00:11:58 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the impact of Generative AI on online search and associated legal issues. The online search market has been stable for over twenty years. Will Generative AI change the way online search works and looks, and what are the implications for brand and trade mark owners? Timestamps:
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| The UKIPO’s consultation on changes to UK design law and its possible impact on fashion designs | 16 Oct 2025 | 00:15:14 | |
Overview: Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleague Rachel Platts about the UKIPO’s consultation on proposed changes to UK design law and their impact on fashion design. We touch on possible changes to the UK design examination system, searches, the possible introduction of opposition procedures and dealing with bad faith filings. We also discuss important possible changes to disclosure rules and touch on copyright protection for fashion designs. Timestamps:
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| Creativity and a designers freedom in EU Registered and Unregistered Designs: The Deity Shoes Advocate General Opinion | 18 Sep 2025 | 00:14:33 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the recent Opinion from Advocate General Emiliou in the Deity Shoes S.L. case. The case concerns whether fashion designs need ‘intellectual effort’ to benefit from EU Registered and Unregistered design protection and whether fashion trends impact the designer's freedom when considering the validity of designs. Timestamps:
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| Post-sale confusion following the Iconix/Dream Pairs decision: An interview with Simon Malynicz KC | 14 Aug 2025 | 00:19:43 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Simon Malynicz KC of Hogarth Chambers on the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in the Iconix vs Dream Pairs case. We discuss the concept of post-sale confusion in the world of trade marks and as ever have a fashion spin. Timestamps:
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| The Edwards vs Boohoo case and other notable fashion IP cases : an interview with Andrew Norris KC and Becky Knott | 10 Jul 2025 | 00:23:30 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barristers Andrew Norris KC and Becky Knott of Hogarth Chambers on the recent Sonia Edwards vs Boohoo design case. We also touch on the well-known Rihanna case and other notable fashion IP cases. Timestamps:
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| Smell-a-like and dupe perfumes: an interview with Susanne Bilderbeek and Olivia Petter | 12 Jun 2025 | 00:19:30 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleagues Susanne Bilderbeek and Olivia Petter on smell-a-like perfumes and compare and contrast UK, Benelux and German trade mark and copyright case law on perfume comparison lists and smell-a-like perfumes. Timestaps:
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| The Fashion Law LLM and fashion IP cases past, present and future: an interview with Professor Johanna Gibson | 08 May 2025 | 00:29:08 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview Professor Johanna Gibson of Queen Mary University of London. We touch on the new Fashion Law LLM, the first fashion law LLM in the United Kingdom and discuss fashion IP cases past, present and future. Timestamps:
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| Good practice in contentious proceedings before the UKIPO: an interview with barrister Victoria Jones | 10 Apr 2025 | 00:23:20 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Victoria Jones from the chambers 3PB in this edition of the Fashionably IP podcast on good practice in contentious proceedings before the UKIPO. Victoria provides tips on good practice in evidence and oral arguments and the benefits of using a barrister in UKIPO proceedings. Of course, the podcast will also have a fashion spin as always.
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| Who is the informed user in the world of UK and EU design law? | 13 Mar 2025 | 00:17:44 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Daniel Selmi of Three New Square in this edition of the Fashionably IP podcast on the concept of the informed user in UK and EU registered design law. Who is the informed user? How does the informed user impact the assessment of design infringement, validity of registered designs and prior art? Has the concept of the informed user impacted any fashion cases? Timestamps:
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| Honest concurrent use: what is all the fuss about in the world of fashion? | 13 Feb 2025 | 00:11:23 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the often misunderstood concept of honest concurrent use and fashion brands in the United Kingdom. What is the history of this concept and how does it apply to the world of fashion brands? Timestamps:
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| The Thom Browne/Adidas Decision: another battle of the stripes | 14 Jan 2025 | 00:16:05 | |
Lee Curtis and Rebecca Field discuss the recent Thom Browne/Adidas decision of the English High Court concerning the battle of the three and four stripes. The decision was long and wide-ranging concerning invalidity, infringement, passing off, post-sale confusion and honest concurrent use in the world of fashion.
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| Fashion brands and non-use | 19 Dec 2024 | 00:13:38 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss non-use revocation actions and fashion brands in the United Kingdom and European Union. What constitutes use? Do you need to use a trade mark in the exact form of the registered trade mark? What are the valid reasons for non-use?
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| Copyright law and fashion | 14 Nov 2024 | 00:11:13 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the application of copyright to the world of fashion. Why is it harder to enforce copyright in fashion items in the US compared to the EU? How are fashion items protected by copyright in the UK?
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| The history of fashion intellectual property law in around fifteen minutes | 10 Oct 2024 | 00:15:22 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis provide a short history of fashion IP law. They discuss the differences between US, UK and EU fashion IP law and explain that many of the differences are down to history.
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| Explaining fashion IP law via women’s shoes | 12 Sep 2024 | 00:12:15 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the IP rights applying to women’s shoes. Rebecca and Lee concentrate on probably the most famous women’s shoes of all, notably the red sole of Christian Louboutin. They discuss how the red sole was registered and some of the IP disputes surrounding that shoe in the EU and US.
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| Position trade marks in fashion | 15 Aug 2024 | 00:15:03 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss position trademarks in fashion. What are position trade marks and how easy or hard are they to register in the world of fashion. What happens when fashion position trademarks come into conflict?
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| Explaining Fashion IP law via perfume | 11 Jul 2024 | 00:11:05 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the intellectual property rights which apply to perfume, why they are integral to the success of a fashion house and how they can be protected under IP law.
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| Explaining Fashion IP law via a piece of jewellery | 14 Jun 2024 | 00:12:17 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the intellectual property rights that apply to jewellery, some recent cases on the protection of jewellery under trademark law, and also why all things that glitter as jewellery may not always be protectable under intellectual property law.
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| Explaining Fashion IP law via a dress | 17 May 2024 | 00:13:18 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the intellectual property rights which apply to dresses and how dress design has moulded some of the IP rights that apply to fashion items. Further, can the ‘overall look’ of a dress designer be protected via IP law, as opposed to individual dress designs?
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| The day that Rihanna’s footwear inadvertently destroyed the novelty of a Community Design | 15 Apr 2024 | 00:14:22 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the recent decision of the General Court of the European Union, which upheld previous decisions of the EUIPO to cancel a Community Design Registration for a pair of trainers in the name of Puma SE based on prior disclosures of the design by Rihanna on Instagram.
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| Explaining IP fashion law through the handbag | 15 Mar 2024 | 00:11:39 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss IP law in the fashion sector via a series of objects. The second object they will discuss is the handbag. What IP rights apply to this form of fashion item? Are there any particular IP rights most applicable to the handbag? Are there any significant recent IP cases impacting handbags?
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| Explaining IP fashion law through the humble trainer or sneaker | 12 Feb 2024 | 00:11:52 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis start to discuss IP law in the fashion sector via a series of objects. The first object they will discuss is the humble trainer or sneaker. What IP rights apply to this form of footwear? Are there any particular IP rights most applicable to the sneaker or trainer? What special consumer issues and traits impact the protection of IP in the sneaker or trainer market? Timestamps:
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| The impact of exhaustion of rights on IP in the world of fashion | 15 Jan 2024 | 00:11:51 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the impact of exhaustion of rights on intellectual property law in the world of fashion. The exhaustion of IP rights is particularly important in the world of fashion retail and impact of IP rights owners’ ability control their distribution channels. Under what conditions can brand owners object to the resale of genuine branded fashion products in the UK? What is the ‘aura of luxury’? What is the impact of Brexit on exhaustion of rights in the UK? Does the UK government have any plans to bring in international exhaustion into the UK?
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| The impact of artificial intelligence on IP in fashion? | 14 Dec 2023 | 00:11:36 | |
The impact of artificial intelligence on IP in fashion? Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on intellectual property law in the world of fashion. What is artificial intelligence? How does an AI application learn to become a fashion designer? Can AI applications own and create IP rights in fashion? How do you deal with the issue of liability and the infringement of IP rights?
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| The quiet luxury trend, what is it? And what is its impact of IP? | 16 Nov 2023 | 00:12:12 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleagues Lauren Somers and Emma Pallister on the quiet luxury trend in fashion and what impact does it have on IP rights. How do you protect and enforce aspects of quiet luxury?
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| Eighteenth edition: How to conduct a search for a fashion design in the UK and EU? | 16 Oct 2023 | 00:11:19 | |
Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleague Suzan Moss on searching for fashion designs in the UK and EU. What IP rights do you have to consider? What about disclosure dates, novelty, and individual character? What is good practice in registering designs for fashion items.
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| Impact of Brexit on design and trade mark rights in the world of fashion | 14 Sep 2023 | 00:11:50 | |
There is a lingering impact of Brexit on design and trade mark rights in the world of fashion. You might have thought that Brexit no longer has an impact of IP law in the fashion world, well it still does. The 31st December 2023 is approaching, and that date will be significant in a number of ways in IP rights in the world of fashion. We discuss the expiry of Continuing Unregistered Design Rights, Supplementary Unregistered Design Rights, the potential divergence of UK and EU laws, UK address for service for UK design and trademark registrations and the potential for international exhaustion of IP rights in the UK.
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| Parody Fashion Brands: Trade Mark Law Perspective Across the US, UK, and EU | 14 Aug 2023 | 00:10:16 | |
Welcome to Series 3, Episode 4 of HGF’s Fashionably IP podcast. In this podcast we talk about parody fashion brands and whether there are any differences in the approach to them in the US, UK, and EU from a trade mark law perspective. Has a recent decision in the US on parody brands brought the various approaches closer together?
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| Series 3, Episode 3: ‘Quirky’ aspects of UK and EU trade mark practice | 14 Jul 2023 | 00:11:23 | |
This podcast is the final in a series of three podcasts on key aspects of trade mark protection in the UK and EU. We talk about two ‘quirky’ aspects of UK and EU trade mark practice, notably series and position trade mark applications, with a fashion spin.
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| Series 3 Episode 2: Decorative use of trade marks in the world of fashion | 15 Jun 2023 | 00:10:42 | |
This podcast is the second in a series of three podcasts on key aspects of trade mark protection in the UK and EU. We talk about the decorative use of trademarks in the world of fashion and who exactly is the average consumer in a trade mark infringement action under UK practice.
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| Series 3 Episode 1: Goodwill with a fashion spin featuring a special guest! | 15 May 2023 | 00:13:56 | |
Welcome to the first episode in series 3 of HGF’s Fashionably IP podcast. This podcast is the first in a series of three podcasts on key aspects of trade mark protection in the UK and EU. This episode will focus on the subject of goodwill with a fashion spin as ever. We will also have a special guest in this podcast but you will have to tune into the podcast to find out who it is!
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| Series 2 Episode 3: The important points of registering designs in the UK and EU | 12 Apr 2023 | 00:12:45 | |
Welcome to episode 3 of our second series of HGF’s Fashionably IP podcast. This podcast is the final podcast in a series of three podcasts on key aspects of design protection in the UK and EU. We are going to talk about all the small but potentially significant quirks and points of UK and EU Registered Design Practice, including disclaimers, drawings, descriptions and much more.
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| Series 2 Episode 2: Novelty and infringement of UK and EU Unregistered and Registered Design Rights. | 15 Mar 2023 | 00:10:53 | |
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| Series 2 episode 1 - Disclosure and its impact on unregistered and registered design protection | 14 Feb 2023 | 00:10:19 | |
Welcome to Series 2 Episode 1 of HGF's Fashionably IP Podcast. In this episode we will be talking about disclosure and its impact of unregistered and registered design protection and we are going to have a fashion spin as always.
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| New beginnings in the form of recycling, upcycling and resale in the world of fashion. | 16 Jan 2023 | 00:10:56 | |
In the ninth edition of HGF’s Fashionably IP podcast in the spirit of the new year and new beginnings or at least recycled beginnings, we are going to talk about recycling, upcycling and resale in fashion. How do IP rights impact recycling, upcycling and resale? Can a brand owner control the resale of its branded product and product which may have been upcycled or customised from the product it originally sold?
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| Christmas, Fashion & IP – is it all Jingle Bells? | 13 Dec 2022 | 00:12:55 | |
In the eighth edition of HGF's Fashionably IP Podcast, we are doing something different to what we have done with our previous podcasts and have a Christmas special. In this podcast we are talking about Father Christmas and how if he had been starting out in his toy and joy distribution business what trade mark and design rights he could have combined in his famous red and white outfit. So we are going to combine Christmas, fashion and a bit of IP. Merry Christmas from us and all at HGF. Timestamps:
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| Protection of shape trade marks in fashion | 10 Nov 2022 | 00:13:34 | |
In the seventh edition of HGF's Fashionably IP Podcast, we discuss the protection of shape trade marks in the world of fashion. Our discussion centres on the recent refusal by the Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office to register the shape of the Christian Dior saddle bag hand bag. We also touch on the decision from the General Court of the EU from 2021 to allow the registration of a cosmetics applicator by Guerlain. Why did Guerlain and Christian Dior find themselves in different positions? Is there still hope for Christian Dior in registering its saddle bag hang bag as a trade mark?
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| Geographical terms and their protection in fashion | 13 Oct 2022 | 00:11:08 | |
In this sixth podcast, we discuss the protection of geographical terms in the world of fashion. An emotive subject for businesses and countries alike.
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| Trade mark rights protecting fashion designs | 14 Sep 2022 | 00:10:09 | |
In our fifth podcast we talk about trade mark rights protecting fashion designs. Design and copyright may be of obvious use, but what about trade mark rights?
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| Zombie Fashion Brands | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:12:05 | |
In our fourth podcast we talk about heritage brands in fashion or brands which are sometimes unfairly called zombie brands. Can zombie fashion brands come back to life? How does trade mark deal with this particular issue of fashion IP law? Timestamps:
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| Trade marks which are fashion products, and fashion products which are trade marks | 15 Jul 2022 | 00:13:31 | |
In our third podcast, we talk about the issue of protecting trade marks when they are the fashion product itself.
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