> Look at the fashion industry - there are no patents in clothing design. And they haven't collapsed; in fact, i think fashion florished more because of the lack of patents!

Ah that depends on your viewpoint. Shein and similar outlets are making bank on stealing stuff from designers and rapid-manufacturing absolute dog quality shit [1].

Had fashion something like design protections, designers would at least have some recourse against these exploiters.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/02/details-i-m...