Is Fashion the Future?

Another interesting question raised by Kal & Chris's paper goes something like this: Is Fashion the Future?

One thing that strikes me about the protection for fashion is that it's driven, as our authors say, by trademark and a focus on protecting and nuturing the brand.

This may be a stretch. In fact yes it is. But I wonder how similar the actual legal regime of fashion is to the de facto regime that is beginning to emerge for alot of easy-copy content, like alot of internet content, and like this blogging.

I think I am hardly the first to suggest that many content industries may be slowly migrating toward a trademark- or brand- driven industry dynamic. In other words, one where authors care less about copying itself, and more about attribution, or getting their content out there. An authorship dynamic that values exposure over control -- get famous, and then money somehow.

The question is whether Fashion is such an example -- I'm not sure. The other question is whether the future I've described actually is the future, which is a much larger question).