Forever 21

As Forever 21 and L.A.M.B among others dispute over legal rights, a new bill is introduced in the House of Representatives that will allow designers to sue those who copy their creations for up to $250,000. The new bill will allow fashion artists and labels to defend themselves better from cheap brands that reproduce their elaborations, since the current laws ban fashion piracy, but only if a designer's label is attached to the fake.

Recent cases like the one between TopShop and Chloe or Gwen Stefani Vs. Forever 21 have vastly contributed in the desperate quest for “better” rights and a safer protection against fake productions. Unproductive designers who copy other peoples work are just pure scum and completely damage those who really aspire to build up a respectable label - take a look of what they did to this struggling woman.

Dana Foley, a designer with a chic boutique, told The Associate Press about retailer Forever 21 copying her design. She said “We don’t even know how they knocked off the last one because it’s not even in stores yet,” she continued. “It cuts our legs out from underneath us in terms of building a brand, an identity.”

Last week, Gwen Stefani sued Forever 21 for copyright infringement. Today, WWD reported that there are over 20 similar lawsuits pending against Forever 21 for copying the designs of such names as Anna Sui, Diane von Furstenburg, Marc Jacobs, and Bebe, among others. It seems that the entire Forever 21 empire, loved by millions of teenagers and twentysomethings around America, has built its success on copying others' designs! Will they go completely bankrupt because of all the legal problems? They could -- some of the suits go into the millions of dollars.

Singer and L.A.M.B. designer Gwen Stefani is suing retail giant Forever 21 for trademark infringement. Apparently, Forever 21, which is popular with teenage girls, "changed a couple of words in the Heart/Box Trademark, which are inconspicuous and likely to go unnoticed by a consumer."

The lawsuit says that Forever 21 used the same design and just changed the word "Harajuku" to "Forever" and the word "Lovers" to "Love."

As a result of the chain using a similar image, Harajuku has supposedly "suffered and continues to suffer damage to its business reputation." Damage to business reputation? I don't think so. As if Harajuku even had a business reputation to begin with. I think they'll have a tough time with this one. After all, that's how stores like Forever 21: selling cheap lookalike items that are copies of designer items with slight modifications. They've been doing it forever, and Harajuku is not their first target.

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