Intellectual Property: Trade Dress

Trade dress is a form of intellectual property and is an offshoot of trademark protection. Many times, trade dress relates to protection for the way something looks and feels. Generally, trade dress refers to protection for the overall look and feel of something. To be protectable, the elements of trade dress must be distinctive and non-functional.

Trade dress can include things like protection for the appearance of a product shape or packaging and can extend to the shape of a building or even the design of a space. As long as the trade dress identifies the source of a good or service to a consumer, intellectual property law can be used to protect it.