Copyrighting Style? Reframing Style Imitation as Non-Literal Copying in EU Copyright Law: Implications for Generative AI and Fashion Dupes

The proposition that artistic style falls outside copyright protection is widely regarded as axiomatic in copyright law. Under the idea/expression dichotomy, authors may claim exclusive rights over the specific expression of their ideas, but not over artistic styles, genres or aesthetic vocabulary. Recent developments, however, have made the copyright treatment of style increasingly difficult to ignore. Generative artificial intelligence can produce works in the recognisable style of individual creators within seconds, while fashion dupes systematically reproduce the aesthetic language of successful luxury designs without literal copying. These developments have prompted renewed interest in the relationship between copyright and artistic style. This article argues that the central question has been framed too broadly. The issue is not whether copyright should protect style itself. Rather, it is whether conduct described as “style imitation” may already constitute the non-literal reproduction of protected expression under existing EU copyright law. Revisiting the Court of Justice’s jurisprudence on originality and the reproduction right, the article demonstrates that the existing framework already provides the doctrinal tools necessary to distinguish between lawful stylistic inspiration and copyright infringement. It concludes that AI-generated outputs and fashion dupes do not expose a need to copyright style, but rather a need to recognise more clearly when apparent stylistic borrowing is, in reality, the non-literal reproduction of protected expression.