Riassunto Fashion and Intellectual property law

FASHION BLOGGING

Historically, communication in the fashion world was linked to a "top down" model information processed in a highly specialist context of workers. In particular important newspaper, magazine and so on.

With the advent of the web we passed to a "peer to peer" model horizontal communication channels from user to user.

Fashion blog personal diaries in which common users can share ideas and opinions in an expressive space released from the commercial circuit. If you know the history of Chiara Ferragni, she was a student and she started with her personal blog, with the help of her boyfriend, who was a very talented photographer, and used to take pictures of Chiara with different outfits and published them on the blog. This activity in a few years changed a lot and CF started to cooperate with a huge number of different brands, endorsing their products and organizing many different kinds of activities. It is very

The market is mainly based in the US. This is the reason why the US was the first country to introduce specific rules to regulate this phenomenon. The institution that regulated and conducts different activities in this regard is the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).

In 2009, the FTC regulated the activity of bloggers and their relations with fashion houses, specifically with regards to the use of endorsement and testimonials in advertising. This shows the importance of institutions like the FTC in the most important market for social networking and these kinds of activities, and it introduces this kind of rule.

The core of this rule is to consider the activity of fashion bloggers as activities of endorsement and testimonials in advertising. So, it is no longer just a personal activity conducted as a hobby, but a real commercial activity.

This is the basic rule: Bloggers and all those who publish content on microblogging platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are required to disclose any material connections they have with the brands they endorse or promote.

and must inform the public about the material connections existing with the company whose products and services are published.

Question: do I have to respect these rules even if I advertise my own brand?

Yes. Because the importance is in clearly communicating that we are giving a commercial message. A big differentiation today in communication is in this: those who do activities without relationships with firms specify this to underline their independence and so they are giving a personal opinion. On the other hand, when there is a commercial relationship, this should be disclosed. In Italia a differenza degli US non abbiamo una normativa specifica quindi si applicano per analogia altre norme che esistono in materia di pubblicità. Se le inserisco in qualche contesto tv, teatrale etc. L'importante è che ci sia una comunicazione trasparente. Alla fine dei film nei credits sono menzionate le società che hanno utilizzato l'opera per pubblicizzare i propri prodotti.

FASHION BLOGGING

Let's consider the regulation issued by FTC. This is an important example because it was the first regulation to regulate this phenomenon. Let's consider more in depth the connection with the brands.

The connection with the company may consist of benefits, monetary remuneration, loans of products, offers of gift products, free services, professional relationship between advertiser and blogger.

It is important to clarify that not only when a fashion blogger receives money from the brand it is due to respect these rules, but also if he receives gifts, because as we can imagine a bag of an important brand has a huge economic value. So, I can receive money, goods, free access to services etc. It doesn't matter.

The important thing is that

There is a kind of compensation, not necessarily a monetary one. But when we are in presence of this kind of exchange, visibility against money, visibility against product/services and so on, we are in presence of a commercial exchange. So, an activity is not conducted for free or independently but in exchange of something.

This is the point that must be clearly conveyed to the consumer, who has the right to perceive clearly if certain activities are conducted independently or for free or if the same activities are conducted in exchange of a remuneration. The blogger is required to clearly indicate the existence of this relationship for remuneration, inserting the words "ad" or "sponsored by".

A good base is inserting "ad" or "sponsored by". A good practice in this phenomenon is to regularly use this kind of hashtag/indication in order to make it clear what is the relationship between the blogger and the brand. In case of violation, fines can go up to $11,000.

1. In the UK, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) regulates new forms of online commercial communication. Commercial content must be clearly identifiable as advertising messages.
2. In France, there is a strict approach to online advertising that is not clearly identifiable. The fine can be up to €37,500 in addition to a prison sentence of up to 2 years.
3. In Italy, the regulations differ from other countries.

There is no specific regulation yet. In Italy there is no specific regulation. Blogs and other forms of online communication are similar to traditional advertising. One of the most important fashion blogger, Chiara Ferragni, is Italian, so this is surprising. We have other laws/regulations that can be applied to these specific cases. In this respect, we can say that blogs and other forms of online communication are similar to traditional advertising. In Italy, the existing rules for traditional advertising are applied also to online advertising. The link to apply these rules is represented by a perfect equitation of the online activities conducted by the bloggers to the traditional advertising. It is important to mention CAP and IAP: these are traditionally a system created to respect all the rules of transparency in the advertising sector. These institutions have now also the power to intervene also in case of online advertising. Codice di autodisciplina pubblicitaria (CAP) dell'istituto di autodisciplina.

1. Jury who guarantees correct application of cap;
2. Control committee which has the task of reporting to the jury advertising messages in contrast with the cap.