Trade dress pleading standards in design disputes eased in Second Circuit

By Melissa Ritti ( February 7, 2025, 16:54 GMT | Insight) -- The longstanding requirement in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont federal courts that a trade dress complaint involving similar product designs must establish distinctiveness of the articulated trade dress is no more. Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit joined its sister circuits in declaring the articulation requirement “separate and independent from distinctiveness," removing a pleadings hurdle that might have led to premature dismissal in some trade dress cases.The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit clarified yesterday that although a plaintiff must articulate the elements of its purported trade dress in a complaint, there is no corresponding requirement to prove that those same elements possess inherent or acquired distinctiveness....

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Trade dress pleading standards in design disputes eased in Second Circuit

Prepare for tomorrow’s regulatory change, today

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