Trade Dress means the characteristics of the visual appearance of the product or its packaging that signifies or indicates the source of the product. Trade dress protection is intended to protect consumers from packaging or appearance of products that are designed to imitate other products. It aims to prevent consumers from buying one product under the belief that it is another product i.e., from getting deceived while buying any product.
The Lanham Act in U.S. is the statute on Trademarks which has provision for protection of Trade Dress whereas in India we do not have any specific statute on Trade Dress. Trade dress is one of the aspects of Trademark which needs to be explored much more in India. The essentials of Trade dress are: 1. It creates overall look or feel of a brand and 2. It acts as an indicator of the source of the product to the consumers. E.g., of Trade dress: The shape of a Coca-Cola bottle can be identified because of the distinct visual appearance which the consumers can relate to.
