The Questions

These questions are of interest to me because I want to start up my own business in the future so knowing the answers to these questions will help me first of all not get into any legal trouble and they will also help inform me of the issues that are going on with the the fashion industry. Some of the legal issues that the fashion industry is facing right now are: Intern protection v. Employee protection, child exploitation and under age modeling, designer copies, unfair wages, false advertising, applying for the wrong type of visa, and sweatshop consequences.  

1. Do you think that even though interns are not considered "employees," they should still receive the same legal protection?

2. Are designer inspired goods the same as counterfeit goods? Could a designer fight that someone has created a design that looks similar to one that they have already created?

3. Gwyneth Paltrow was recently accused of child abuse for her bikini targeted at children ages 4-8. Do you think that she violated the child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act (CAPTA)?

4. Within the modeling industry sometimes-under aged models pose nude, could they be in violation of the Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act? If so, do you think the blame would go towards the photographer, modeling agency, or parent?

5. Recently the Humane Society of the United States has caught retailers who have labeled their fur garments as "faux" when they were actually real. Would this be considered false advertising? If so how are companies able to get around this, meaning why aren't they getting stopped before the product is available for purchase?

6. Are retail companies allowed to pay under the state minimum wage? 

7. Is there any type of limit or record being kept for how many of each type of visa a company is applying for? Because recently an outsourcing company called Infosys was caught bringing in immigrants under a visa only meant for meetings.

8. When a U.S. retail company is found to be using sweatshops in other countries do they face legal consequences in the U.S. or in the country they were conducting business in?

9. When a designer uses a celebrity as its muse, do the celebrity and designer have a contract of some sort, and does the celebrity make any money from it? 

10. When a retailer files its taxes is there any why to determine if they are paying its customers fairly?