Can a shape be a trademark? Absolutely! As I’ve said before, anything that serves to distinguish one company’s goods and services from another company’s goods and services can serve as a trademark. This includes color, sound, designs like logos, words, phrases, and shapes. Today I’ll cover shape as a trademark.

Recall that in order to be a trademark, the item serving as the trademark must be primarily decorative and non-functional. If function is to be protected, the useful invention must be patented. This means, as we’ll see in today’s example, that the decorative aspect of a distinguishing feature is protected, but the functional aspect is not. This does not mean, however that an item of decoration cannot also have a functional purpose; it just means that the function is not protected, but the design that is part of the function is.

The Panerai bridge as a shape trademark

For example, the crown protector on this Panerai wristwatch is protectable as a shape. In fact, the shape of the crown cover is a registered trademark of Officine Panerai. This doesn’t mean that the functional part of the piece is protected; another company is free to make a cover that protects the crown and winding stem from damage, but they can’t make it the same shape as that of the Panerai crown protector. It’s important to distinguish from the portion protected by the trademark — the distinctive shape of the crown protector — from the functional aspect of the crown protector, which is not protected.

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Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.