This is how celebrities’ special clothing collections are protected
Bad Bunny’s appearance on the Super Bowl stage and, more recently, on his world tour, wearing garments from his collaboration with Inditex – dubbed ‘Benito Antonio’ – highlighted the fact that fashion and music are no longer parallel worlds, but industries that mutually benefit from each other’s global impact. What began as simple capsule collections has now established itself as an unstoppable trend.
However, behind these launches, how can both music artists and fashion brands be legally protected? For Juan Carlos Guerrero, a partner in Intellectual Property (IP) and Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) at ECIJA, success depends not only on design, but on preventive safeguards: “It is important to understand the pre-existing elements of both the collaborator and the brand, to know what outcomes will result from the combination of those rights, and how those outcomes will be exploited,” he points out.
Guerrero identifies three main elements in this type of collaboration: image rights, which govern how the artist’s physical appearance, name or signature is used; industrial property, linked to registered trade marks; and intellectual property, associated with copyright over creations and designs. It is common for the result to be registered by one of the parties, without prejudice to both parties being granted rights during the collaboration. Once the partnership has ended, there are various possibilities: ownership may remain with the artist; the brand may agree that it cannot be used by either party; or there may be a so-called ‘sell-off period’, which allows the company to sell off any remaining stock from the collection for a limited time.
Exclusivity with a brand is another sensitive issue, as artists do not usually limit their collaborations to a single brand. To avoid disputes arising from collections similar to those of other brands, Guerrero emphasises the importance of clearly agreeing on indemnity and liability arrangements for potential infringements of rights, as well as specifying the duration of the exclusivity and the products to which it applies. It is also common in these collaborations to incorporate the artist’s pre-existing elements – such as song lyrics, melodies or recognisable symbols – provided the author’s authorisation has been obtained.
Contracts are usually drawn up in several stages: first, a term sheet setting out the general terms (duration, number of garments, the artist’s involvement, promotional activities, applicable law and jurisdiction), followed by a more comprehensive ‘long-form’ agreement detailing the timetable, prices, quantities, potential discounts and what happens if the collection performs better than expected. They also incorporate governance and dispute resolution mechanisms to prevent deadlocks, as delaying the launch of a collection linked to an album or a tour can result in missing the commercial window and incurring costs in terms of time and resources.
As Guerrero explains, the financial compensation combines a fixed component with a variable component linked to sales, tailored to each artist. The contracts also regulate the artist’s required engagements, such as social media posts or attending events, with the aim of “generating the greatest possible impact”.
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