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Law Office of John B. Hudak, PLLC

An intellectual property law firm: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Trade Dress and Product Packaging

What is a way to protect rights in product packaging?

Product packaging can be registered as trade dress through the Trademark Office.

What is product packaging when gaining protection through the Trademark Office?

Product packaging is the “three-dimensional packaging or wrapping in which a product is sold.” TMEP 1202.02

What are some examples of product packaging trade dress?

Examples of product packaging are:

the pump bottle which a cosmetic product is sold in,
the box candy is sold in.

Where can I see examples of product packaging trade dress?

TMEP

Examples of trade dress are in the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, specifically TMEP 1202.02(c)(ii).

TESS Trademark Search

Also you can search for examples of trade dress in the TESS Trademark Search System.

First find the proper design code to search by:

Use the Trademark Design Search Code Manual to find the design code for the type of packaging.
Then in the manual, enter in the type of packaging you may want to register, such as, bottle.
Then in the results look for the closest written description of your packaging, and click on the six digit number (design code) in the search results to look at the pictures for that design code.
You can also browse through the design code manual.

Second search in TESS by design code:

With the six digit design code, then go to TESS, and go to the Expert search function and search DC:designcode AND LD:true AND RD:[2018-01-01 TO 2024-02-10] to view modern registered examples.

Examples of searches:

Searching for 19.09.12 Bottles or jugs with pumps or sprayers, including atomizers:

the search of DC:19.09.12 AND LD:true AND RD:[2010-01-01 TO 2024-02-10] would show you somewhat recent examples of the trade dress registered for bottles with pumps

Such as the three dimensional shape of a bottle portion of a pump bottle for cosmetics specifically skin cleansers or lotion - SN: 77956270

Searching for 19.07.06 Candy boxes:

the search of DC:19.07.06 AND LD:true AND RD:[2016-01-01 TO 2024-02-10] would show you somewhat recent examples of the trade dress registered for boxes of candy

Such as the three dimensional shape of a candy box - SN: 90257494

Outside Resources for Understanding Trade Dress

Elements of trade dress are defined in the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP), specifically under TMEP 1202.02.

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