Intellectual property: Trade dress and Utility model

Trade dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers. Trade dress is a form of intellectual property.

United States.

Trade dress protection is intended to protect consumers from packaging or appearance of products that are designed to imitate other products; to prevent a consumer from buying one product under the belief that it is another. For example, the shape, color, and arrangement of the materials of a children's line of clothing can be protectable trade dress (though, the design of the garments themselves is not protected), as can the design of a magazine cover, the appearance and décor of a chain of Mexican-style restaurants, and a method of displaying wine bottles in a wine shop.

Utility model

A utility model is a patent-like intellectual property right to protect inventions. This type of right is available in many countries but, notably, not in the United States, United Kingdom or Canada. Although a utility model is similar to a patent, it is generally cheaper to obtain and maintain, has a shorter term (generally 6 to 15 years), shorter grant lag, and less stringent patentability requirements. In some countries, it is only available for inventions in certain fields of technology and/or only for products. Utility models can be described as second-class patents.

While no international convention requires countries to protect utility models (unlike copyright, trademarks or patents) and they are not subject to the TRIPS agreement, they are subject to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, which means that countries that do protect utility models are required to comply with rules such as national treatment and priority. Utility models are also available (in countries that have a utility model system) via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system of international patent applications.