Rahul Mishra accuses brands of plagiarism

In September last year, designer Rahul Mishra had sent a legal notice to a popular high street brand for copying one of his designs. Almost seven months after that, the designer has now accused an Indian ethnic wear brand for copying an original motif from his designs and has sent a legal notice to them. Rahul says that he has been dealing with copycats for years now, but this time he is surprised that the entire tree motif set against the forest backdrop has been copied.“In case of motifs, one usually gets away by saying that no one can have a copyright on rose or a flower motif as they are universal. In this case, I decided to send a legal notice to the brand because they have copied the pattern that was hand drawn in my studio. It is like a creation of a painting, and if someone copies that exact painting, it is plagiarism,” says Rahul, adding that it took him two months to create the motif that was used on jackets and dresses in his summer collection that was showcased in Paris in September 2016.

“If you see the brand’s range, they have even copied the style. They have used the motif on jackets like it was used in my collection. This collection is still selling and one piece is being sold for ₹40,000. Now I see an entire range that uses my original motif and they are selling a set (jacket and kurta) for around ₹1500. When we created the motif, we had handdrawn it and it was hand-embroidered on jackets, while this brand is recreating the motif as a digital print. I got to know about it when I got a call from someone asking me if I have collaborated with the brand to create this collection,” says Rahul.
Rahul is plagued by plagiarism not just in India. The designer’s team had discovered that the motif has been copied by a French brand too, and the designer says that his lawyers will send them a legal notice as well.
Rahul is waiting for the ethnic wear brand to respond to his legal notice. It had not responded to our queries either, till the time of going to press.