For most business people, this term describes the way a company presents itself to its customers and suppliers. Business people want to look like whomever they are. Otherwise, all products of a given type would look pretty much the same. Once a firm's history is a few years long, it has relationships that depend on trade dress.
Customers use trade dress to spot company goods on the shelf.
So trade dress can be worth a lot of money. Or, perhaps, it may be worth nothing at all. Here's how trade dress protection will work from now on in the world of product design. Samara Brothers Inc. makes children's clothing, mostly spring and summer seersucker outfits with appliqued hearts, flowers, fruits and the like. Samara sold clothes through JCPenney and other retail chains, but not Wal-Mart.