How do you protect how your product looks? Today we’re tackling the Two-Headed Monster of Design IP: design patents and trade dress trademarks.

This is where serious protection and some serious money is for innovators in product manufacturing and design.

I’m Julie King of King Patent Law, and welcome to week 4 of this year’s Spooky Season posts!

This week’s topic covers an often-neglected but important way of using intellectual property law to protect your business, which is protecting how your products look.

Utility patents protect how a product works; design IP protects how a product looks. You may need two different types of protection to fully keep your product safe from copycats: design patents and trade dress trademarks.

In this episode:

• Head 1: The Design Patent (0:52)
• • What a Design Patent Protects (1:05)
  • The Power and Advantages of a Design Patent (1:35)
  • The Drawbacks of Design Patents (2:52)
• Head 2: The Trade Dress Trademark (3:48)
• • What a Trade Dress Trademark Protects (3:59)
  • The Power and Advantages of Trade Dress Protection (4:46)
  • The Drawbacks of Trade Dress (5:08)
• Two Heads Are Better Than One: Why You Need Both (6:42)

Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #designpatent #trademark #tradedress #brand #branding #horror #halloween #spookyseason

Trademark genericide is a real-life horror story! What happens when your brand is too good? It dies of success!

Genericide is the legal process where a trademark (like the original name for aspirin) becomes the common name for an entire type of product. The public no longer thinks of the brand; they think of the item itself.

The Tragic Tale of the Escalator: The word Escalator was once a trademark owned by the Otis Elevator Company. Because consumers started using "escalator" to describe any moving staircase, Otis eventually lost the trademark in 1950. Now, any company can use the word.

The Fix: You must always link your brand name to the generic product name.

• BAD: "Let's take the Escalator."

• GOOD: "Let's take the Otis® brand escalator."

Use your trademark as an adjective, not a noun. Never let your customers use your brand name as a verb! (e.g., Don't "photoshop" that image; use Adobe® Photoshop® software to edit that image.)

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#trademark #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #trademarktalesofterror #horror #spookyseason #halloween

Trademark Terror for T-Shirt Tycoons!

If you’re a designer, a band, or anyone else making and selling apparel, one of the biggest, scariest mistakes you can make is confusing Decoration with Brand Identification.

The Ornamental Trap

To be granted trademark registration, the mark must function as a source identifier. That means consumers must look at the name, logo, or slogan and think: "This is the company that made or sold this."

Here's the terrifying truth about apparel:

1. Ornamental Use is Decoration, Not a Brand: If you print a catchy phrase (like "STAY CREEPY") or a large design prominently across the front of a shirt, the USPTO will usually consider that ornamental use (decoration). People buy it because they like the saying, not because they think the saying is the name of the clothing manufacturer.

2. No Exclusive Rights for Decoration: Unless your mark is already famous (like Nike's JUST DO IT), you cannot stop others from using the exact same phrase ornamentally on their shirts. You were just the first to decorate.

How to Prove You’re a Brand, Not Just a Decorator

To get your mark federally registered on the Principal Register, you must show proper trademark use. Consumers are conditioned to look for the brand in specific, subtle places.

The Ghost (Ornamental Use)

• A large, dominant logo on the chest or back.
• A catchy, full-front slogan (e.g., "Too Spooky for this Planet").
• The design on a coffee mug or poster (decoration).

The Source (Trademark Use)

• A small, discrete logo on a pocket or breast.
• The name on a sewn-in neck tag or label (where the size and washing instructions are).
• The brand name on a hang tag, sticker, or the packaging used to hold the item.

If you're building a clothing line, make sure your brand name or logo is visible in the source-identifying location on the garment itself (the tag, the collar, the hem). That's your best proof that your mark is an actual trademark, not just a spooky apparition!

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#trademark #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #trademarktalesofterror #horror #spookyseason #halloween