Law · Explained

Dupe or counterfeit? What EU law actually allows

Style can't be owned. Logos, protected designs and original works can. A plain-English guide to the line between a legal dupe and an illegal fake in the EU and the Netherlands.

RunwayTwin Journal · 7 November 2026 · 9 min read

"Dupe" has become one of fashion's most searched words, and one of its most misunderstood. Brands use it as an accusation, shoppers as a compliment, and sellers as a loophole. Legally, it means nothing. What matters is which right a product copies, if any.

1. Trade marks: the logo line

A trade mark protects signs that tell you who made something: names, logos, monograms, and sometimes patterns, colours or shapes registered as marks. An EU trade mark is registered with the EUIPO and covers all member states. A product that carries an identical or confusingly similar sign, without permission, in the course of trade, infringes. That is the textbook counterfeit: the logo is the point.

A black quilted bag with a chain strap and no logo is, as a rule, not a trade mark problem. The same bag with interlocking Cs is. That's why most legitimate dupe brands are careful to remove every brand sign, and why a "dupe" that keeps the logo is simply a fake with better marketing.

2. Design rights: the shape line

Designs protect what a product looks like: its lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and decoration. In the EU, a design can be protected two ways.

• Registered EU design: filed with the EUIPO, renewable in five-year terms up to 25 years, and protects against any product that gives the same overall impression to an informed user, copied or not.
• Unregistered EU design: arises automatically when a new design is first made available to the public in the EU, lasts three years, and protects only against copying. It is made for fashion, where most designs live for a season or two.

The EU design reform package took effect on 1 May 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2024/2822, with Directive (EU) 2024/2823 for national laws). The Community design became the "EU design", the definition was modernised, and new infringing acts were added, including creating or sharing files that let someone 3D-print a protected design, and goods passing through the EU in transit.

For dupes, design law is the real line. A bag that copies the specific new shape of this season's "it" bag, without any logo, can infringe its unregistered design for three years after launch. A bag that only shares the trend (a slouchy hobo, a small top handle) does not.

3. Copyright: original works, including clothes

Copyright can also protect fashion. In Cofemel v G-Star Raw (Case C-683/17, 2019), the Court of Justice of the EU held that a design such as a piece of clothing is protected by copyright if it is original, meaning it reflects its creator's own free and creative choices. No extra artistic or aesthetic threshold may be added. In practice, courts still find most functional garments not original enough; a distinctive print or a highly creative piece is a different matter.

4. In the Netherlands: slavish imitation

Dutch law adds a fourth layer: slaafse nabootsing, slavish imitation, a form of unfair competition. Roughly, copying can be unlawful when the original has its own distinctive place in the market, the copy causes needless confusion among buyers, and the copier could have avoided that confusion without compromising quality or function. Dutch courts have applied this to jackets and other clothing. A widely shared trend is unlikely to have its own place in the market; a recognisable signature product may.

What this means if you buy one

• Buying a legal dupe (no logo, no copied protected design) is just shopping.
• Buying a counterfeit for personal use is generally not something EU trade mark law punishes consumers for, but the goods can still be taken. In Blomqvist v Rolex (Case C-98/13), the Court of Justice confirmed that customs can seize and destroy a fake watch bought online from a non-EU seller for personal use, because the sale to an EU customer is itself an infringing act by the seller.
• Selling, even second-hand on Vinted or Marktplaats, is "in the course of trade" once it looks like a business. Selling counterfeits is where real liability starts.
• Safety is a separate issue. Counterfeits skip product-safety checks; dangerous dyes and nickel in fake jewellery are a known problem.

How RunwayTwin handles this

RunwayTwin recommends pieces that recreate a look's silhouette, colour and fabric from brands selling under their own name. We never link to counterfeits or to listings that use another brand's marks, and we show the original, often pre-loved, next to every alternative so you can choose with the full picture.