Runway models, runway performers? Unravelling the Ashby jurisprudence under UK law

At a time when the working conditions of fashion models are receiving the attention of policy-makers and key industry players in the UK and beyond, this article proposes to revalorise models’ rights to legal protection using intellectual property (IP) law. More specifically, it argues that it is possible to extend performers’ rights to runway models by taking advantage of flexibilities in current legislation and case law. This analysis goes back to the basics of intellectual property law by re-examining the definitions of protected performances under national and international law. Noting the fact that both sets of definitions, national and international, define protected performances as those which are the interpretations of a ‘work’, this article considers whether runway models can be seen as performers, building on the recognition of fashions shows as ‘copyright works’ in Ashby (2013). As a result, Ashby has opened new avenues for the application of performers’ rights to runway modelling due to the connection between the subsistence of a copyright ‘work’ and the subject matter covered by performers’ rights.