![]() ![]() This type of trademark protection falls under the category of trademark law called "trade dress." In this case, Hershey's sought protection not for the word "Hershey's" or the Hershey's logo, but for the unique candy bar design that had been in use for more than 40 years. 2 Hershey's has a number of conventional registered trademarks, such as "Hershey's" 3 and "Hershey's Kisses" 4 for chocolate candy. First, it is important to understand how and why trademark law protects this type of food product design and the scope of the protection.Ī trademark is any word, name, symbol or device, or any combination thereof, used to identify and distinguish goods from the goods sold or made by others. The decision has some interesting implications on the scope of product-design trademark protection, particularly as it relates to foods. The TTAB also ruled that Hershey’s had acquired the requisite "secondary meaning" for trademark protection in "production-design" trade dress. 1 The candy maker sought protection for "twelve.equally-sized recessed rectangular panels arranged in a four panel by three panel format with each panel having its own raised border within a large rectangle," and while the individual design elements alone were insufficient to garner trademark protection on the grounds that each element is merely a functional configuration of the candy bar, the TTAB ruled that the "overall combination" of the design features entitled the candy maker to registered trademark protection. Hershey Chocolate and Confectionary Corporation ("Hershey's") recently gained registered trademark protection for the design and configuration of its candy bar after prevailing in an appeal before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the TTAB).
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