[Guest book review] The Handbook of Fashion Law (with a discount code)

The IPKat has received and is pleased to host the review of “The Handbook of Fashion Law” (eds. Eleonora Rosati and Irene Calboli, 2025, OUP). This book review has been prepared by Spyros Sipetas, PhD candidate at the Stockholm University. Here’s what Spyros writes:

The cover image portrays a photograph of
Signor Valentino himself, in his atelier in the 1960s

Fashion law has now been fully established as a field of study, research, and practice worldwide. University curricula increasingly feature dedicated fashion law programs, while many private practice lawyers and in-house counsels identify as fashion law practitioners. Yet, despite the significant traction this arguably newfound discipline has gained, a comprehensive legal scholarship systematically codifying its various components in a single work had been missing – until now. The Handbook of Fashion Law, edited by Eleonora Rosati and Irene Calboli, masterfully managed to fill this gap.

As emphasized in the foreword by Maciej Szpunar, First Advocate General (AG) at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), one of the key challenges in fashion law is its lack of dedicated legislative regulation – it rather ‘constitutes of a certain section of legal acts whose primary purpose is to regulate areas seemingly unrelated to the specific nature of goods whose essential element is their aesthetic value’. Remarkably, AG Szpunar also delivered the Opinion in Cofemel (C-683/17), playing a crucial role in shaping the Court’s approach to copyright protection for fashion designs.

Against this backdrop, it is evident why such a work was not only highly anticipated, but also essential for those seeking to navigate the complexities and nuances of this evolving legal field. This could not have been accomplished more effectively than through a curated collection of contributions from leading figures in both academia and legal practice, sharing their knowledge and expertise.

Given the multifaceted nature of fashion law – encompassing intellectual property, competition, contract, and e-commerce law, among others – The Handbook of Fashion Law reflects this breadth by offering an equally expansive scope of topics, structured in a coherent manner.

Part I: ‘The (developing) infrastructure of the fashion and luxury industries: intellectual property and beyond’

Consisting of eight chapters, the first part of the Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the framework governing the fashion and luxury industries, assessing not only intellectual property (IP) related issues, but also their intersection with the circular economy demands, the protection of cultural heritage, as well as freedom of expression and information.

The first chapter naturally focuses on the IP protection of fashion at the international level, laying the foundation for what follows – an exploration of several topical issues, including the issue of online intermediaries’ liability under IP law, a topic examined by editor Eleonora Rosati. In this chapter, presenting to be of high practical relevance, Prof. Rosati provides a thorough overview of the relevant framework as shaped by both legislation and the CJEU case law. As she explains ‘although the cases discussed are not limited to the fashion industry, it is evident that fashion and luxury companies and conglomerates have had a significant role in shaping the enforcement framework currently available in Europe’. This point underscores the often-overlooked influence of the fashion industry in shaping legal frameworks beyond its immediate scope. It is further illustrated by providing examples of prominent cases brought before national courts at the initiative of companies such as Louis Vuitton (C-236/08 to C-238/08 Google France and Google), L'Oréal (C-324/09 L’Oréal and Others), Richemont (Cartier International AG & Ors v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd & Ors), and Louboutin (C-148/21 and C-184/21 Louboutin).

Other standout contributions in the first part include a trio of sustainability-focused chapters, beginning with an exploration by (editor) Irene Calboli and Margherita Corrado on how the current IP framework aligns with the imperative to foster a circular fashion industry. As they highlight, IP laws were ultimately created to promote progress – which in our current society cannot be separated from the notions of sustainability and circular economy. Continuing on this theme, Martin Senftleben provides a comprehensive analysis of the trademark dimension. The sustainability-related exploration (in the context of part I) is concluded with a chapter touching upon the fast fashion phenomenon from a legal point of view, introduced with a reference to the cerulean blue sweater in The Devil Wears Prada, to emphasize that fashion is made to become unfashionable.

Part II: ‘Protecting fashion: mapping the intellectual property dimension’

In its thirteen chapters, the second part of the Handbook delves deeper into the evaluation of the role of all IP rights (including geographical indications and plant variety rights!) as regards the protection of fashion objects, offering perspectives not only from the EU, but also from the UK and the US.

Notably, Arnold LJ provides valuable insights into the fate of works of artistic craftmanship in post-Brexit UK, followed by chapters evaluating the works of applied art regime in EU Member States in the post-Cofemel era (focusing on Italy and Portugal), a topic which is a personal favorite of the reviewer.

Continuing, Gordon Humphreys – Chairperson of the First and Third Boards of Appeal at the EUIPO – and Katarzyna Zajfert, delve into a comprehensive assessment of the framework for the protection of well-known fashion trade marks. This analysis seamlessly sets the stage for Michał Bohaczewski’s deeper examination of the legal protection of luxury fashion brands under EU trade mark law. In the final chapters of part II, the discussion expands to explore other forms of IP protection that had largely remained untouched in the context of the fashion industry, ie geographical indications, plant variety rights (in relation to sustainable fashion), as well as trade secrets.

Part III: ‘Contractual, competition, and regulatory issues in the fashion industry’

The third part of the Handbook presents a diverse range of legal perspectives across nine chapters, offering a comprehensive examination of fashion’s business dimensions. This section extends its analysis beyond legal frameworks to contextualize fashion as a market, shedding light on key revenue streams for fashion brands, such as licensing and merchandising. By doing so, it reinforces the notion that fashion is not only an art form, but also one of the most lucrative industries worldwide.

No discussion of fashion as a business sector would be complete without addressing its intersection with competition law. In a compelling chapter, Susanne Augenhofer and Giorgio Monti analyze the constraints competition law imposes on brand management. They trace how competition (or antitrust) enforcement in the fashion sector only started drawing attention due to industry consolidation in the luxury market, a shift further accelerated by the rise of e-commerce. Their analysis takes a comparative approach, contrasting EU and US regulations on distribution agreements. Their conclusion? (spoiler alert): a fashion house entering a distribution agreement in the EU must navigate far stricter competition law constraints than in the US. The chapter concludes with a timely discussion on sustainability initiatives, posing the critical question of whether such efforts should be accommodated within competition law, even if doing so means compromising certain competition principles.

Part IV: ‘Tech and fashion: legal challenges and solutions’

In the final part, once again comprising nine chapters, the Handbook examines the particularly pressing issue of the legal challenges posed by technological developments in the fashion sector. This is achieved through a collection of contributions including a discussion on legal issues emerging from e-commerce, Eleonora Rosati’s comprehensive evaluation of the interplay between fashion and predictive artificial intelligence, AI (or, as the chapter is titled, ‘Algorithm Fashion’) from a copyright perspective, and Heidi Härkönen’s exploration of moral rights in the same context. Continuing, two chapters offer insights into fashion brands’ virtual presence in the metaverse and the legal implications it brings about, as well as the not-so-long-ago hotly debated topic of fashion tokens, also offering an analysis of, among others, the Gucci, Prada, Nike, and Puma NFTs – adding a sense of tangibility to an otherwise particularly virtual subject.

Final thoughts

As regards the contents of the Handbook on a substantive level, the recurring themes make it clear that while the protectability of fashion designs per se is a topic which offers an extensive ground for discussion, certain ‘trends’ are emerging as the key concerns of fashion (law) in the years to come: sustainability-related issues, and the contextualization of fashion within the digital realm – including the role of AI in the industry and its legal implications.

The topics explored are both timely and timeless – not only addressing the most pressing current legal issues in the fashion industry but also anticipating its future legal challenges, making this a work with lasting relevance – a characteristic rarely found in the fashion sector, where today’s ‘cutting-edge’ is tomorrow’s passé – or, at best, vintage.

The particularly wide range of topics included, across-disciplines, highlights this collection’s ambition to both establish fashion law as a concrete field of research & practice, and push the boundaries of what is traditionally perceived as falling within its scope.

The Handbook of Fashion Law is set to become the leading scholarly authority on fashion law, offering valuable guidance to scholars and practitioners in the field alike, while its captivating legal analyses make it a must-read for anyone in the legal field with an interest in cross-disciplinary legal works. More than just mapping the current landscape, this volume propels us toward the future of fashion law – importantly, doing so with the confidence to recognize it as a fully consolidated field (as the editors humorously mention in the introduction).

Note that readers can benefit from a 30% discount using the code AUFLY30 on the OUP website.