NEW YORK/UN - Some television shows live on not only because of their plots, but also because of their costumes. Think of Jennifer Aniston as Rachel on Friends, whose mint green dress from the third season is still talked about today. Or consider Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, whose design-rich wardrobe included a Dior dress with a newspaper print. These outfits and characters have become iconic in fashion history and have helped shape the styles of their time.
The same can be said for the Netflix series Emily in Paris, which is returning for its fifth season on December 18th. This time, we'll see Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) travel to Italy – and her dazzling wardrobe, with references to Sophia Loren, Anita Pallenberg, and Sharon Stone, is already being discussed in fashion magazines like Vogue. The WIPO magazine is exploring the buzz and examining how the fashion we see on television is created and protected by intellectual property (IP). The relationship between fashion and television is not new. In 2009, the popular American teen drama Gossip Girl inspired a clothing collection created by fashion designer Anna Sui for the retailer Target.
In Sex and the City, which ran from 1998 to 2004, Carrie Bradshaw was almost synonymous with Manolo Blahnik shoes. In the 2008 feature film, Mr. Big proposes to Carrie with a pair of Blahnik's Hangisi pumps, making them the most coveted shoes in the world. Since then, the Hangisi has been produced in over 100 colors and materials. Blahnik even dedicated a capsule collection to the Hangisi in honor of its 10th anniversary and the moment that made it famous.
Sartorial fandom often sees fans trying to emulate their favorite characters by dressing like them. Therefore, the success of fashion television shows has created a pattern: when clothing becomes a central element of a series, it becomes an asset worth protecting. Emily in Paris has enthusiastically embraced this model. Its costumes are carefully selected, strategically licensed, and increasingly monetized. The IP strategy behind the show offers a valuable case study of how copyright, design rights, trademarks, and licensing converge in modern fashion on screen.
Copyright in Emily in Paris
Emily Cooper is not just a character; she is a brand – and her wardrobe is essential to how viewers perceive her. Good costume design conveys details about characters and can showcase everything from identity and social status to personal development. The show's head costume designer, Marilyn Fitoussi, "is all about creating identities and characters through clothing, whether it's a brand or a trend," according to InStyle. Emily's eclectic early looks, for example, featured a blouse with an Eiffel Tower print, which highlighted her outsider enthusiasm as an American in Paris and her lack of knowledge of Parisian haute couture. However, in the third season, Emily adopted more understated Parisian styles, reflecting her growing assimilation into French culture, with Fitoussi drawing inspiration from icons like Françoise Hardy and Jane Birkin.
To create the aesthetic of "Emily in Paris," Fitoussi uses custom pieces and collaborates with established and emerging designers to build the world of each character. Like all original costume designs, Fitoussi's work is protected by copyright in the EU, specifically within the moral rights of the costume designer, ensuring that she retains and protects the integrity of her creative vision. However, protecting clothing in television through copyright is legally complex. In the United States, clothing is treated as a "useful article," meaning that only decorative elements that can exist independently of the garment, such as embroidery or graphic designs, are eligible for copyright protection, according to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands. Silhouettes, cuts, and overall styles remain unprotected, making many television costumes vulnerable to copying unless they contain logos or trademarks.
European copyright law, particularly in light of the European Court of Justice's Cofemel decision from 2019, recognizes copyright for any fashion design that expresses the author's intellectual creation. As a result, artistic fashion designs, including those created for film or television, can qualify as copyright-protected works if the design is original and can be identified with sufficient precision and objectivity. Within the EU design registration system, costumes can benefit from unregistered EU design rights, which last for three years; costumes that meet the requirements for a registered EU design can be protected for up to 25 years...