[rayiner]

Dseign patents theoretically apply to clothing, but are rare because proving the various elements is somewhat onerous. In any case, they are largely unnecessary. Fashion is almost entirely driven by branding, which is protected by trademark. People buy the brand, not the design. So the JC Penny copy isn't even really in competition with the high-end fashion house design.

[Jare]

Here's a theory: high end design houses have not created their own 'low end self-copycats' because they couldn't block the JC Pennys and Zaras and couldn't compete with their large-scale production, marketing and sales. If law now allows such blocking, then I could see that expansion into low end happening.