Meanwhile, Shen Yi’s conference meeting had ended. The stockholders left one by one but not without congratulating him first for his marriage. When everyone left, Shen Yi was accompanied by Qiao He and Kang Wei inside.
“Ay, these old farts worry too much!” Kang Wei started his rant, throwing the folders he was reading back on the table. “So what if Lu Xinyi is a part-Sun, are they forgetting that she distanced herself from her maternal family?”
“They don’t care about the affair as long as their gain wouldn’t be affected by the rumors.” Shen Yi shook his head and continued reading the adoption papers finalized by the court. He was pleased with Kang Wei’s work that the biological father of the twins ended up in jail for drunk-driving, losing all of his rights for the twins.
Kang Wei used this offense to prove that the father was only after the monetary support he could gain from the Shen family using the twins. Now, the twins were officially listed in their family registry as legitimate children of President Shen and Lu Xinyi.
Right then, Lu Xinyi pushed the door open and stepped in, with the twins following behind her. The three men looked up at the same time with varied expressions.
Shen Yi’s gaze softened as soon as he’d seen his wife and the twins. Qiao He smiled as he watched the Shen twins pattering their way towards his Boss Yi while Kang Wei felt a fit of sudden jealousy when he realized that Shen Yi gained not only a wife but also two beautiful children.
“Xinxin, you’re here.” Shen Yi stood up and greeted his wife.
Lu Xinyi’s eyes swept the trio and smiled awkwardly.
“Sorry for barging in. I thought your meeting was done.”
“Ay, the whole family is here to pick up Daddy Yi?” Kang Wei teased his Boss Yi and earned a fierce glare from him.
“I hope we aren’t interrupting something important.” Lu Xinyi smiled at him.
“Oh, no.” The lawyer waved his hand, dismissing Lu Xinyi’s words. “I was just showing Boss Yi the adoption papers approved by the court.” He grinned in satisfaction when he saw the surprised look on Mrs. Shen’s face.
“Really? That’s great news!” She clapped her hand excitedly. Now, there’s no reason for the twins to be parted from her and Shen Yi. “We should celebrate!”
“That’s why I called you here,” Shen Yi said, “Let’s all eat together to celebrate.” Although he wanted to eat Lu Xinyi’s home-cooked meals, now wasn’t the time for it.
“Kang Wei, you should join us with Zhao Xi. I haven’t seen her since forever,” Lu Xinyi suggested.
Kang Wei hummed. Actually, Zhao Xi had also bugged him to meet Lu Xinyi, but he knew how hectic Shen Yi and Lu Xinyi’s schedules were lately so he wasn’t able to invite them.
“I’ll give Xi a call, alright? I’m sure she’ll be happy to join.”
—
Soon, Shen Yi’s small family found themselves in a nearby restaurant with enough privacy out of everyone’s prying eyes. The food they ordered came quickly, and the atmosphere was filled with peals of laughter and voices as they conversed about the recent affairs in their lives.
However, their joyous conversation came to end when Lu Xinyi took that rare chance to ask Kang Wei’s opinion over the fas.h.i.+on designs that Starlight Collections stole from Xia Yuhan.
“I’m sorry, Madam Shen; but it really depends. There are some mixed messages out there about whether fas.h.i.+on designs are eligible for copyright protection. Some experts would say ‘no’, others would say ‘yes’, and they’re both right—it depends.”
“Depends on what?” Lu Xinyi asked while she removed the fish bones from Zichen’s plate, making sure he wouldn’t eat any of it. “What do you mean it depends? Isn’t enough that the designs and cuts were undeniable similar to Xia Yuhan’s?”
“It depends on what you mean when you say ‘fas.h.i.+on designs’. Kang Wei paused as he thought hard about it. He was more familiar with civil and corporate laws and must be careful about how to answer his Boss’s wife.
“A fas.h.i.+on design could connote a number of things. It could mean sketches. It could mean a signature color. It could mean the way fabric and other design elements are cut and pieced together. It could mean the graphic designs that appear on clothing. It could mean a design imprinted into the fabric.
“Copyright protection does not extend to colors. So if the fas.h.i.+on design you wish to protect is a signature color or a unique color scheme, copyright is not the avenue for you. However, that doesn’t mean there are no options for protecting your intellectual property. Trademark protection is sometimes available in these instances.
“The way that design elements are cut and pieced together is not protected by copyright. Again, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other avenues you can pursue. You may be able to protect your creation with a design patent.”
Kang Wei tried to explain in words that Lu Xinyi could easily understand. This wasn’t the first time he heard about another brand copying the designs their compet.i.tion had.
“But still, Xia Yuhan owned the original sketches. That should prove that it was hers, right?” Lu Xinyi insisted.
With the upcoming fas.h.i.+on nearing, she could not afford to lose again by Sun Qiyan’s plagiarism attempt. Not this time. She made up her mind to strike her at full force, making sure she wouldn’t be able to recover from it.
Sun Qiushan lost her life because of her. It was only proper for Lu Xinyi to take everything that Sun Qiyan held important.
“If she created original sketches of the designs, those sketches are protected by copyright law. That means that no one can copy, distribute, and publicly display your sketch without permission. However, copyright protects original expression, ideas. Because the protection is in the drawing itself—not the underlying idea, it does not necessarily prevent others from creating fas.h.i.+ons that resemble the sketch.” The Shen Group’s main legal counsel laid down her choices.
Lu Xinyi pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d been brainstorming as to how they could protect Xia Yuhan’s designs but hadn’t thought that it was complicated.
“By the way, Xinxin. I heard that Starlight Collections pushed their launching three days before Flair Apparel. Sun Qiyan might be thinking to push Flair Apparel to disadvantage by gaining the momentum to introduce their clothing line for this season ahead of yours,” Zhao Xi said worriedly. The talk about the launching of the campaigns from both Starlight and Flair Apparel had spread on social media.
“Yes, they intend to release their campaign before us.” The severity of the problem was evident, and Lu Xinyi had been racking her brain to find a solution to the problem. She could not allow the same thing to happen to Xia Yuhan again. “We’ve received reliable information that Starlight will release designs similar to our Fire and Ice Campaign.”
“What?!” Zhao Xi couldn’t help but exclaim out loud. Sun Qiyan was really brave to cheat Lu Xinyi’s business like this. “There must be a rat on your team that feeds Starlight information.”
“We’re lucky that this has been discovered early. Xia Yuhan would start altering the designs and wouldn’t show the final designs to everyone. We’ve decided to give the informant incomplete designs. Since Sun Qiyan loves to copy Xia Yuhan’s designs that much, I’ll let her deal with a problematic wardrobe.”