Legal protection for a product's or business's distinctive look and feel.

That can include packaging, design, color combinations, store layout, or other visual features that tell buyers who made or sold something, even when no word mark is doing the work. In the United States, trade dress protection usually comes from the Lanham Act of 1946, the main federal trademark law. To qualify, the look must be distinctive, nonfunctional, and likely to identify a single source in the minds of consumers. "Nonfunctional" matters a lot: a business cannot use trade dress law to lock up useful product features that belong in patent territory, or nowhere at all. Some trade dress can be protected without registration, but federal registration through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can make enforcement easier.

Practically, trade dress protection helps stop competitors from copying a brand's overall presentation so closely that customers are likely to be confused. That can support a trademark infringement or unfair competition claim, especially when the copied design trades on another company's reputation.

It can also show up around injury claims in a side-door way. If confusing packaging or product appearance leads someone to buy the wrong item, questions about branding, warnings, and source confusion may become part of the case. Trade dress protection will not decide personal injury liability by itself, but it can affect who gets sued, what evidence matters, and whether consumer confusion is part of the story.