A random tweet led me to revisit a few-years-old TEDx talk on intellectual property and the fashion industry. Fashionista communities  thrive on the fact that clothing designs are without copyright protection. This reality spurs plenty of design knock-offs of course. But it also contributes to explosive innovation and increasingly outrageous concepts in garment-making that constantly push the industry forward.

So what about the training industry? Although there is trademark protection for certain e-learning programs or software suites, fundamental adult learning approaches are not protected by copyright. And I witness trainers freely sharing and borrowing ideas and models from each other all the time! The question is, has this contributed to the kind of innovation and experimentation in organizational L&D as we see on the runways? 

If not, why not? What lessons can the L&D field borrow from low-IP industries and cultures to remain on the advance?