When a Dupe Isn't Just a Dupe: What Khaos v Universal Store Teaches Australian Brands About Protecting Design
An Australian designer just found out, in public, how little legal protection a great design idea has on its own...
When a Dupe Isn't Just a Dupe: What Khaos v Universal Store Teaches Australian Brands About Protecting Design
An independent Australian designer just found out, in public, how little legal protection a great design idea has on its own. Her story is a timely lesson for every founder who has ever assumed their product's look is automatically theirs to defend.
In September 2026, Gold Coast designer Bessie Joseph, founder of the label Khaos, went public with claims that ASX-listed retailer Universal Store was selling a skirt strikingly similar to her signature "Billie" design, at close to half the price. She sent a cease and desist letter. She reached out by email, Instagram and TikTok. She received no reply. Rather than commit to a costly legal battle, Joseph did something else: she cut her own price to match, and invited her much larger rival to respond publicly.
What she said next is the part every business owner should sit with: "There's nothing legal, they don't have to do anything. I haven't got a patent. It's a clothing item, so it's really hard to get copyrighted."
Why a good design is not automatically protected
It is a common and understandable assumption: if you designed something original, surely the law protects it. In Australia, that is only true if you have taken active steps to secure the right kind of protection, and for a physical product like a garment, that usually is not copyright.
Copyright can be difficult to rely on for mass-produced clothing, because once a design is applied to more than a small number of articles for commercial production, copyright protection is generally excluded in favour of the registered designs system, a separate right that has to be applied for. If that registration was never sought, the gap Joseph described is exactly the gap the law leaves open.
Trade marks protect your brand, not your product's shape
A registered trade mark protects names, logos, and other brand elements that distinguish your business from competitors. It is a powerful tool, but it generally will not stop someone from copying the cut, shape or silhouette of a garment itself, unless that shape has separately been registered or has built up the kind of long-term, distinctive reputation that supports a passing off or misleading conduct claim.
Registered designs protect how a product looks
If it is the visual appearance of a product you want to protect, a registered design is usually the right tool, and timing matters enormously. In Australia, a design generally needs to be new and distinctive at the time of filing, which means the window to register closes fast once a product is shown publicly or sold. Waiting until after a copy appears is, in almost every case, too late.
The practical takeaway: if a product's brand name matters, protect it with a trade mark. If a product's look and shape matters, look at a registered design. If you are not sure which applies to your business, that is precisely the conversation to have before you launch, not after a competitor has already copied you.
A pattern, not a one-off
Khaos v Universal Store sits alongside a run of similar Australian stories this year, from international beauty brand Sol de Janeiro's ongoing case against MCoBeauty over packaging and get-up, to Bodum's unsuccessful Federal Court case against the importer of Maxwell & Williams glassware, where deliberate copying was found not to be unlawful because the copier's own branding was clear enough to avoid confusion. Together, these cases show that Australian law protects confusion, not imitation, and that the businesses with strong outcomes are consistently the ones that registered their rights properly, early.
What this means for your business
- Do not assume a great design is automatically protected. In most cases, it is not.
- Work out early whether your value lies in your brand name, your product's appearance, or both, because different rights protect different things.
- Register before you launch publicly wherever possible, registered design rights in particular can be lost by delay.
- If you are copied, get advice quickly. The options available, and how strong they are, depend heavily on what you actually registered ahead of time.
Frequently asked questions
Can I trade mark the shape of my product?
In some cases, yes. Australia allows registration of shape trade marks where the shape is distinctive of your brand rather than simply functional or common in the industry, but these applications face a higher bar and need careful strategy and evidence.
What is the difference between a trade mark and a registered design?
A trade mark protects brand elements, such as a name, logo or other sign that identifies your business. A registered design protects the visual appearance of a product itself, its shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation. Many businesses need both, protecting different things.
Is it too late to protect my product if it has already been copied?
It depends on what you have already done. If the product has been publicly sold or shown for some time without any registration, some options such as registered designs may no longer be available. Other options, such as trade mark protection for your brand name, or consumer law claims in limited circumstances, may still apply. The sooner you get advice, the more options are usually still open.
Protect it before someone else copies it
A free discovery call with our team is the easiest way to find out exactly what should be protected in your business, and how, before it becomes someone else's dupe.
Book your free discovery callThis article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every business's circumstances are different. For advice specific to your situation, please contact IP Wealth directly.
