Sui generis solves the politics link – allows Congress to custom fit to specific industries

Sui generis protection for industrial design has characteristics that make it an ideal solution for the inadequacies of the current system. One advantage is that it allows Congress to custom-fit protection legislation according to the specific needs of the targeted industry. For example, one of the complaints reported in the joint report on the VHDPA was that the ten year term of protection afforded under the VHDPA was not long enough to justify registration of hull designs for many manufacturers.'39 The complaint was that when a design is registered, it is also made public. Therefore, in order for registration to be beneficial to the designer, the design must be protected for a sufficiently long period to allow the designer to recoup his investment in the design before others are allowed to copy it without infringing." For across-the-board design legislation that protects many different industries, responding to this type of complaint would be difficult for Congress because the decision would affect all industries covered by the protective legislation. Because the VHDPA currently only applies to boat hull designs, lawmakers have more freedom from industry influence when it comes to making changes to the statute. If the boating industry supports the change and Congress agrees with the alteration, then the adjustments can be made withoutaffecting other industries.