CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE REGULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN RIGHTS: FASHION DESIGN

International Law, Business and Political Science Journal ISSN-L 3235-9799 E-ISSN 3235-9799 IF(Impact Factor) 13.24 https://journallaw.totalh.net/ Volume: 12. Issue 13 December 2025 1 CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE REGULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN RIGHTS: FASHION DESIGN Satvaldieva Yulduzkhon Khatamjan kizi Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Law Tashkent State University of Law, PhD Abstract This article examines the constitutional foundations of regulating industrial design rights in the Republic of Uzbekistan, with a particular focus on the legal protection of fashion design. Article 53 of the Constitution establishes the right to private property, explicitly extending this protection to intellectual property and ensuring legal certainty for authors and right holders. The study analyzes the conceptual understanding of fashion design, emphasizing its dual nature as both an aesthetic and utilitarian creation, and compares it with the legal definition of an industrial design. The article further explores the interrelation between design and trademark protection, especially in the fashion industry, where external distinctive features may serve as identifiers of goods. Special attention is given to doctrinal positions, including those of V.N. Sinelnikova, V.L. Glazychev, and international scholars such as Duha Mustafa Al-Demerdash and Gianni Denaro, who highlight the cultural, artistic, and competitive significance of fashion design. Additionally, the article discusses challenges related to the unlawful appropriation of design elements and the economic consequences for right holders. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for an effective legal framework that accounts for both the aesthetic and functional properties of fashion design, as well as its short commercial life cycle, in order to ensure robust intellectual property protection in the rapidly evolving fashion industry. Keywords Industrial design; fashion design; intellectual property; Constitution of Uzbekistan; design protection; trademarks; aesthetic features; utilitarian functions; cultural product; creativity; legal regulation; infringement; haute couture; design rights. The constitutional foundations of regulating intellectual property rights in the Republic of Uzbekistan form the basis of the entire system for protecting the results of intellectual activity and define the key principles of state policy in this sphere. Article 53 of the Constitution plays a central role, as it establishes the right to private property, explicitly including intellectual property within its scope. Thus, the Constitution recognizes that the results of scientific, creative, and innovative activity enjoy the same legal protection as material objects and must be safeguarded against unlawful encroachments. No one International Law, Business and Political Science Journal ISSN-L 3235-9799 E-ISSN 3235-9799 IF(Impact Factor) 13.24 https://journallaw.totalh.net/ Volume: 12. Issue 13 December 2025 2 may be deprived of their intellectual property except on the basis of law, which underscores the protection, stability, and legal certainty afforded to authors and right holders. The Constitution also enshrines a wide range of human rights and freedoms that serve as fundamental principles for regulating intellectual property. These include freedom of creativity, freedom of scientific activity, the right to access cultural values, the inviolability of private property, and the protection of individuals’ personal rights. These provisions form the ideological and legal foundation for the development of copyright law, patent law, trademark law, and other institutions of intellectual property. Freedom of creativity means that the state is obliged to create conditions for the development of science, art, and innovation, as well as to ensure an individual’s right to the results of their own creative activity. Before examining the issues of legal protection of clothing design, it is necessary to clearly define its concept, identify its characteristic features, and formulate the requirements for its legal protection. The term “design” does not have a precise legislative definition, as it is a broad and multifaceted concept encompassing various fields and aspects of creative activity. Depending on the context and the area of application, design may include numerous different meanings and interpretations. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word “design” is defined as a project, plan, drawing, or sketch. [1] In the Russian explanatory dictionary, design is understood as the construction of objects, machinery, and interiors based on the principles of convenience, efficiency, and aesthetic appeal. [2] In academic literature, design is described as both a cultural product and an instrument of cultural development, as well as a factor that actively shapes culture itself. Clothing design is the process of creating and conceptualizing clothing, which combines elements of art, sociology, psychology, management, and marketing. [3] V.V. Ermilova and D.Yu. Ermilova view design as a creative project-based activity aimed at creating a harmonious material environment that satisfies both the material and spiritual needs of a person to the fullest extent. [4] It should be emphasized that this definition highlights the combination of consumer properties and aesthetic qualities in design, which allows it to be regarded as a form of intellectual activity. This activity is directed toward achieving an objective result of creativity, expressed in the external appearance of an item, and it integrates both aesthetic and utilitarian functions. It should be noted that V.N. Sinelnikova also compared the criteria of design identified in practice with the definition of an industrial design— a new and original solution that determines the aesthetic appearance of an industrial or handicraft product (including such features as shape, configuration, ornamentation, color combinations, lines, contours, texture, or material surface) — and concluded that a design work, by its characteristics, corresponds to an industrial design. International Law, Business and Political Science Journal ISSN-L 3235-9799 E-ISSN 3235-9799 IF(Impact Factor) 13.24 https://journallaw.totalh.net/ Volume: 12. Issue 13 December 2025 3 Reference may also be made to Article 3 of the Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods,” which regulates the conditions for the protection and use of trademarks intended to individualize the goods of legal entities or individual entrepreneurs. Since such marks include external distinctive features that help differentiate products from similar ones, it can be concluded that trademarks registered for goods in the fashion industry may include elements of design. A similar view was expressed by Z. Babakulov in his study on trademarks. [6] However, some experts emphasize [7] that the registration of clothing, footwear, and accessories (fashion design) as a trademark is advantageous primarily for large companies and fashion houses that occupy a significant segment of the fashion market, since they receive exclusive rights to the created product image, whereas individual designers (authors) retain only personal non-property rights. Design is understood not as the result of intellectual activity itself, but as a field of activity aimed at harmoniously combining aesthetic and utilitarian functions in an object and in its spatial-material environment. Professor Duha Mustafa Al-Demerdash defines design as an applied art aimed at creating clothing and meeting human needs for aesthetics and functionality. In her research, she studied the Trompe L'oeil technique as applied in the process of modeling modern clothing. This technique of visual illusion, which originated as a trend in popular art, creates three-dimensional images that extend beyond the two-dimensional plane and appear to be part of the real world. This technique has been applied in various areas of fashion, creating visual illusions and integrating artistic elements into clothing. [8] This technique embodies not only aesthetics in clothing, but also, through the use of modern technologies, ensures the functional qualities of fashion design. Thus, we may conclude that clothing design represents the aesthetic external appearance that allows the individualization of a specific item (clothing), thereby distinguishing it from similar objects. The same view is shared by the Italian specialist Gianni Denaro, who concludes in his study that design in the fashion industry helps individualize garments and make them more competitive. He defines clothing design as a functional and aesthetic product capable of competing in the global fashion market. [9] One of the advantages of this definition is the emphasis on the objectives of design: the creation of consumer and aesthetic characteristics of a product, as well as the optimization and harmonization of its interaction with people and society. These objectives are expressed through the aesthetic features that shape the appearance of the product and which are crucial for legal protection. Defining design as a creative activity enables consideration of the possibility of protecting the results of such activity under copyright or patent law. The reference to creating a harmonious environment and meeting needs implies the existence of certain conditions that the designer must take into account. This feature distinguishes design from art as a whole. While customer needs and the harmonious combination of objects within an environment have no direct International Law, Business and Political Science Journal ISSN-L 3235-9799 E-ISSN 3235-9799 IF(Impact Factor) 13.24 https://journallaw.totalh.net/ Volume: 12. Issue 13 December 2025 4 legal significance, they allow us to assume the possibility of parallel creation of similar intellectual products, as they define the boundaries within which a designer must operate. A distinctive definition of design is provided by V.L. Glazychev, who considers design a form of organization of artistic and project activity that produces consumer value in products of material and spiritual mass consumption. It is also worth highlighting the contribution of John Ruskin (1819–1900). His merit lies in the fact that he was the first to attribute art to industrial art. Prior to him, scholars and practitioners primarily understood art as music, poetry, paintings, and other objects protected by copyright. Ruskin, however, believed that the art of everyday objects stands at the top of the artistic hierarchy. He explained his position by stating that clothing, utensils, and furniture appear first, and only then paintings and statues. In his definition, he indicated a certain connection between beauty and utility, identifying the beauty of objects through their useful functions. His theory laid the foundation for the emergence and development of aesthetics in machine production. Based on Ruskin’s view, it may be concluded that design combines consumer properties and aesthetic qualities, which predetermines the specificity of design as a result of intellectual activity, distinguishing it from works of art. In the fashion industry, many manufacturers strive to create and present popular designs quickly, often borrowing elements from haute couture collections. This may lead to the unlawful use of a design or its elements, which can cause serious harm to the original rights holders. Considering modern economic conditions, where a product’s success often depends on its design, such infringements may result in significant financial losses. When developing effective legal protection for clothing design, it is essential to consider its aesthetic and practical functions, as well as its short life cycle on the market, in order to ensure the effective protection of intellectual property and prevent unlawful use. References: 1. Oxford English Dictionary. (2024). Design. Retrieved June 9, 2024, from https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=design&tl=true 2. Ozhegov, S. I. (n.d.). Tolkovyi slovar' russkogo yazyka [Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language]. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://ozhegov.slovaronline.com/6966-DIZAYN 3. Kovalenko, I. N., & Maksimenko, A. E. (n.d.). Rol' dizayna v industrii mody [The role of design in the fashion industry]. Retrieved June 9, 2024, from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/rol-dizayna-v-industrii-mody International Law, Business and Political Science Journal ISSN-L 3235-9799 E-ISSN 3235-9799 IF(Impact Factor) 13.24 https://journallaw.totalh.net/ Volume: 12. Issue 13 December 2025 5 4. Ermilova, V. V., & Ermilova, D. Yu. (2010). Modelirovanie i khudozhestvennoe oformlenie odezhdy [Design and artistic decoration of clothing]. Moscow: Akademiya. 5. Sinelnikova, V. N. (2020). Design in the fashion industry as an object of intellectual property. Bulletin of the Institute of Legislation and Legal Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 5(63), 83–89. 6. Bababkulov, Z. K. (2018). Tovar belgilaridan foydalanish va muxofaza qilishni fuqarolik-huquqiy tartibga solish [Civil regulation of the use and protection of trademarks] (PhD dissertation). Tashkent. 7. Denaro, G. (2023). A new manufacturing fashion system: 4.0 competences and roles in Italian clothing design and production. Fashion Highlight, December 2023, 58–65. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.doaj.org/article/270f73d30adb4ff1baddeb41e951b02f 8. Al-Demerdash, D. M. (2024). The aesthetic characteristics of the Trompe L'oeil art in fashion design. Majallat al-turāth wa al-taṣmīm. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://jsos.journals.ekb.eg/article_290982.html 9. Denaro, G. (2023). A new manufacturing fashion system: 4.0 competences and roles in Italian clothing design and production. Fashion Highlight, December 2023, 58–65. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.doaj.org/article/270f73d30adb4ff1baddeb41e951b02f