An earlier post by John highlights the move in Congress to extend copyright protection to the fashion industry. The mere fact that there is no problem to solve - innovation in fashion is thriving after all - appears not to be a consideration. A recent article by Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman in the New Republic points out it is worse than that: the most likely effect of extending copyright protection to the fashion industry will be to kill innovation in the industry. They explain why:

By allowing the copying of attractive designs, current law fits well with the industry's basic mission--to set new fashion trends and then convince us to chase them. And the trend-driven copying of attractive designs ensures that those designs diffuse rapidly in the marketplace. This, in turn, makes the early adopters want a new style, because nothing is less attractive than seeing your carefully chosen clothes on the backs of the hoi polloi. In short, copying is the engine that drives the fashion cycle.

Schumer's bill would kill that engine.

While troubled by the expansion of copyright and precedent for more monopoly giveaways, this would be an interesting experiment. Not being particularly fashion-conscious, I wouldn't mourn the decline of the fashion "industry." :-)

Still, I don't think the lesson would be learned, so better to not even try it.