Innovative Design Protection Act (IDPA) of 2012 Essay

Innovative Design Protection Act (IDPA) of 2012 - Essay Example The paper "Innovative Design Protection Act (IDPA) of 2012" will provide a succinct description of the primary features of the 2012 IDPA, discussing how the act is going to revolutionize the legal defense of designs in the US. The new version makes provisions that require detailed written notices to be issued to suspected infringers and a 21-day suspension on the start of an action following that notice without the accrual of damages during these three weeks. The act has many far-reaching effects on the design industry within the US. At its core, the act is primarily focused on not only protecting designers, but also protecting their creativity, as well as job security. It proffers copyright protection to all fashion designs in the US. The act revises the meaning of the term useful article in order to include, among others, articles of apparel such as tote bags, eyeglass frames, handbags, clothing, wallets, purses and belts. However, the act excludes, from legal protection, all desig ns that are embodied in useful articles whose designers or owners make public. This legal protection is deterred if such publication occurs more than two years prior to the date of the request for registration, specifically in vessel hull designs. Additionally, the legal protection is excluded for useful articles whose publication takes place more than three years prior to the date when protection of the design is provided, specifically in the event of fashion designs. The act also deters the consideration of the absence.... The act ideally sets out the full term of protection at three years for fashion designs and at least a decade for designs of vessel hulls (Richman, Denton & Behr 2012, p. 117). The provisions of the law require the owners of all fashion designs to offer written notifications of the design protection to all persons the design owners have sufficient reasons to believe have violated or will probably violate these protections. The act additionally makes illegal all actions aimed at the infringement of fashion designs from the start until three weeks after such written notice is served to the defendant (The Library of Congress n.d., p. 1). The act is quite significant to the design industry since it provides pertinent modifications to the infringement criteria applicable to sellers, retailers, distributors and importers of infringing articles who were not necessarily involved in making the articles. Another critical importance lies in the act’s revision of provisions dealing with a cting without knowledge, affirming that it does not constitute an infringement to create, sell, import of distribute articles embodying designs that were created without knowledge, either reasonably inferred from all circumstances or actual occurrences, that the designs were protected and were copied from protected designs (Jimenez & Kolsun 2009, p. 154). Moreover, the act declares that it does not constitute an infringement under specified federally guaranteed protections of original designs, to engage in the provisions of services such as telecommunications services, location tools for Internet information and Internet access services, as well as