copyright an fashion - an interesting conundrum

The first time I saw Johanna Blakley's TED talk on the idea of copyright in fashion it absolutely blew my socks off.  I know Kathy linked to it here, so you may have already watched it.  If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it now.

Then, as ideas so often do, I ran across this article in Jezebel which addresses the issue again - but states that some large brands do often sue (and win) cases involving copyright infringement.

Forever 21 knocks off smaller, less established labels — like Trovata, Alexander Wang, and Foley + Corinna, whose printed maxi dress is shown here next to its Forever 21 copy — because those brands are less likely to be able to mount a vigorous legal defense. 

Read more: http://jezebel.com/5742029/forever-21s-bizarre-knockoff-empire#ixzz1CfTJ8FTk

And then, just today, this article was posted about Gap potentially stealing a flickr image (remind anyone of Shepard Fairey vs. the Associated Press)?

So many potentially juicy questions for students!  What are your thoughts?