Section 65 of the new Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill could see an end to fake antique furniture, as this paragraph covers the effect of exploitation of design derived from artistic work.
Currently, furniture designs can be reproduced 25 years after their creation, which means that there has been an explosion of “authentic replicas” in the “faux furniture” market.
However, the Bill in its current form, which went to the Lords for its second reading last week, will omit section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, which will mean that this practice is no longer legal and consequently, copies of Eames Lounge chairs, for example, will no longer be allowed.
Under the new law, the copyright of design will be extended to the life of the creator plus 70 years from the current life plus 25 years. The law will also apply retrospectively, so that any book published that illustrates a work of 20th Century design may have to be edited and reprinted.
Designers and style gurus generally welcome the move as they think that the new law will encourage more investment of time and talent in new British design.
However, the faux-furniture market claims that the law will threaten more than 6,000 furniture companies and, as it currently stands, it will also affect a number of third parties, from lecturers teaching courses on design to museum curators and book publishers, all of whom would have to seek permission for displaying affected items.