You’ve worked hard to build your business. Now you need to do everything you can to protect it. While that may mean negotiating and securing strong contracts and expanding your consumer base to meet changing market demands, it also means protecting your intellectual property.
A lot of business owners are familiar with their copyrights, trademarks and patents, as well as how all of those protections can benefit them, but not everyone is as knowledgeable about trade dress.
What is trade dress?
Trade dress falls under trademark law, but rather than referring to business names, logos, slogans and other traditional trademarks, trade dress refers to other indicators of your business. It can include the packaging and shape of your products, or even the appearance and décor of your business. Even a color can receive trade dress protection under the right circumstances. Think of trade dress as the overall image of your business or product.
Trade dress is a type of trademark, as it serves as a source-identifying purpose. As such, you can register your trade dress. Many businesses choose not to register their trade dress, though, because meeting the requirements for registration can be challenging.
Dealing with trade dress infringement
That said, even if you choose to forego registering your trade dress, you may still have protections against infringement. In order to demonstrate that your trade dress has been infringed upon, you’ll have to show that your trade dress is more than just a functional aspect of the product or service, that your trade dress is distinctive, and that consumers are likely to confuse your products or services with those of another because of the misappropriation of your trade dress.
Know how to protect your intellectual property
In order to protect your intellectual property and, by extension, your business, you need to know how to police your rights and take swift action to stop infringement. Fortunately, you can have an attorney by your side who is experienced in handling these matters. So, if you need help addressing your intellectual property dispute, then we encourage you to continue to read our website to see what we have to offer our clients.
