Protection requires non-functionality, distinctiveness, and for product configuration, secondary meaning. Wal-Mart v. Samara held that product design is never inherently distinctive.
Functionality is a complete bar.
Alternative Names:
Trade Dress Protection|Product Configuration
Why it Matters?
Functionality is the most effective defense, since a feature essential to the article's use or affecting cost or quality cannot receive trade dress protection regardless of source recognition, and utility patents claiming the feature are strong evidence of functionality under TrafFix. Product configuration additionally requires secondary meaning, which distinguishes it from packaging that may be inherently distinctive.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What is the most effective defense?
What evidence supports functionality?
