HR 2196 · 111th Congress 2009–2011, ended

Design Piracy Prohibition Act

Fact sheet

Latest action · Apr 30, 2009 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedApr 30, 2009
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Design Piracy Prohibition Act - Extends copyright protection to fashion designs. Includes as protected items clothing, handbags, duffel bags, tote bags, and eyeglass frames. Excludes from such protection designs embodied in a useful article made public by the designer more than six months before the registration of copyright application. Prohibits considering certain factors in determining the originality of a fashion design. Sets the term of protection at three years.

Declares that it is not infringement to make, have made, import, sell, or distribute any article which was created without reasonable grounds to know that design protection is claimed.

Prohibits deeming a fashion design to have been copied from a protected design if it: (1) is original and not closely and substantially similar in overall visual appearance to a protected design; (2) merely reflects a trend; or (3) is the result of independent creation.

Prohibits deeming a vessel hull design to have been copied from a protected design if it is original and not substantially similar in appearance to a protected design.

Applies the doctrines of secondary infringement or secondary liability to actions related to original designs.

Requires that applications for design registration be made within two years after the design is made public for vessel hulls and within six months after the design is made public for fashion designs. (Current law sets such a time limit at two years for designs in general.)

Increases allowable damage awards for infringement of original designs and for false representation.

Requires the Register of Copyrights to establish and maintain an electronically searchable fashion design database available to the public without charge.

Cosponsors 23

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Apr 30, 2009 to Jun 16, 2009, with 17 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-NYAnthony D. WeinerOriginalApr 30, 2009
R-VABob GoodlatteOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-NYCarolyn B. MaloneyOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-NYCharles B. RangelOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-NYDaniel B. MaffeiOriginalApr 30, 2009
R-CADarrell IssaOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-FLDebbie Wasserman SchultzOriginalApr 30, 2009
R-WIF. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.OriginalApr 30, 2009
D-CAGeorge MillerOriginalApr 30, 2009
R-NCHoward CobleOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-NYJerrold NadlerOriginalApr 30, 2009
R-CAMary BonoOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-CAMaxine WatersOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-FLRobert WexlerOriginalApr 30, 2009
D-CTRosa L. DeLauroOriginalApr 30, 2009

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Apr 30, 2009Introduced in House
  2. Apr 30, 2009Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
S 3728Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention ActRelated billDec 6, 2010

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Commerce.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Apr 30, 2009Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.