Friday, February 12, 2021
Utility patents protect ideas and inventions; design patents protect aesthetic features of a product; and trademarks protect the exclusive consumer association with your company that your brands, logos, or designs evoke. Despite the differences in these types of intellectual property (“IP”), these are some common issues that arise in patent and trademark lawsuits.
Overlap of Design Patent With Trade Dress
Design patents and trade dress are legal protections for visually identifiable features of a commercial product, the purpose of which is not exclusively or primarily functional. Famous examples include the distinctive shape of Coca-Cola bottles and the red soles of Christian Louboutin shoes. The owner of the UGG brand has both design patents and trademarks covering its shoe designs, demonstrating that these two forms of intellectual property can cover the same aesthetic features. If a visually identifiable feature of a product turns ou