On current challenges
This (violations of intellectual property rights) is one of the biggest problems because piracy or even copying of designs on a mass production scale hurts the business a lot. It is a stealing of ideas, which leaves one with a very bad taste. It is a threat to the brand name, and at the same time it also becomes a threat from buyers who might have bought a handcrafted, beautifully-created piece. But a similar kind of piece might be available with a brand in a printed version, which will obviously bring down the cost to one-tenth. It, therefore, becomes an injustice meted out to the customer who would have invested in that design.
The work in the sector (hand-embroidery and handwoven sector) can improve the livelihoods of millions of people. Right now, if I employ 500-700 people, my goal is to give them work everyday. So, whatever design we create are carriers of work for these people. And when designs get copied, they (the artisans) virtually die. Say, a piece can probably provide employment to a family of ten people over a period of time, or 25-30 families over six months. A design has that much power. Their food, medical expenses, everything... their entire existence depends on that design. A design is a powerful tool for employment. There is also a good amount of wealth distribution.
Then, a client loves that design and buys it, vests into it. But, on the other hand, the same design in the digital age is already copied and set at one-tenth of the price giving no employment to people. They produce the same design in six or seven days and produce ten times of what we do in six months. And when I think of slow fashion, copying hurts even more. It is not just an intellectual theft or mere violation of intellectual property rights, but also that of the viability of employment to so many people. Many of these people are wonderful artisans, but don't have jobs. So they become, for instance, labourers in the construction business. That's not good.
It is the biggest disservice to a planet when you pick up a handwoven or hand-embroidered design, make a digital or mechanised version, and then sell it in the market. It is greed at its highest level. This is actually beyond just the copying of a design. There are some big, high-street brands that have copied designs. There are so many litigations around. Every day, we get to see images of brands that are copying designs. They are not even understanding what they are essentially doing. I always say: yes, do copy my designs, but please follow the same process so that you can employ more people as well. If you want to copy hand-embroidery, then do so by all means. But please do not digitalise or mechanise it. This is what I feel is the biggest problem in the Indian context.
On copyright issues
There's a section in the Copyright Act under which any design or piece of art showcased in the public domain, unless it does not go through an industrial process of manufacturing, stays copyrighted with the creator of the design. That is what the law says. We, at Rahul Mishra, do not create anything in terms of industrial production. We do everything by hand. So, what we create or showcase anytime anywhere is copyrighted because it goes into the public domain. The copyright law says that it should not go into industrial production. Then, there is the cap of 50 pieces that can be produced. We are maintaining the numbers to retain the copyright; we bring out limited issues of every design that we create. Second, we have a very strong legal cell that takes care of matters. It is an ongoing process. It is only incidental that even as I am giving this interview from Milan, my team has been messaging me on WhatsApp about numerous infringements of our pieces. Those people (violators) are doing thefts of the highest order, which can in turn deteriorate the lives of hundreds of artisans who work with us. They are stealing opportunities of livelihood from the poorest of the poor.
Right now, when we see almost every day somebody stealing something or the other, it makes us worried. We do take legal action, but the entire process is very expensive. In a way, it becomes a Catch-22 situation where unfortunately in a country like India IPR violations and copyright thefts are taken very loosely. It is an open secret as to how a lehenga that a designer creates after a work of at least 2-3 months is available in so many shops in Delhi or Mumbai in just a matter of days. The biggest service (I can do) can be this: do a litigation, and make it happen, so that other courts or people can follow the suit if they are themselves struggling with copyright issues.
