Trade Dress Protection

A trade dress is a type of trademark that consists of certain features or elements added to the packaging or container of a product or good that helps to distinguish it from others. It can include but is not limited to shapes, textures, colors, and designs that visually appeal to consumers. Some other examples of trade dress are layouts of stores, flavors of products, shapes of bottles, and shapes of candy.

To achieve protection of a trade dress, it must be distinctive and non-functional. The requirement of non-functionality depends on whether the trade dress is used for giving uniqueness to the product and making it easier to identify, instead of fulfilling a demand from the customer's expectation of the product.

The purpose of trade dress protection is to prevent confusion in the marketplace by protecting the distinctiveness of a product or service. This is especially important for businesses whose trade dress is highly recognizable. Without trade dress protection, competitors could easily copy the look of a product or service and confuse consumers into purchasing their product instead of the original. Trade dress protection is essential to owning a business and protecting its identity. It ensures that no other company can copy the unique aspects of a product or service and that customers can easily identify the source of a product or service. It is important to understand the basics of trade dress protection and how it can be used to protect the identity of a business.

Some examples of successful trade dress protection are Coca-Cola bottles, the shape of goldfish crackers, and the red soles on Louboutin shoes.