Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 282

529US1

Unit: $U38

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Cite as: 529 U. S. 205 (2000)

207

Opinion of the Court

Stuart M. Riback argued the cause for respondent. With

him on the brief was Mark I. Levy.*

Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case, we decide under what circumstances a prod-
uct’s design is distinctive, and therefore protectible, in an
action for infringement of unregistered trade dress under
§ 43(a) of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act), 60 Stat.
441, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1125(a).

I

Respondent Samara Brothers, Inc., designs and manufac-
Its primary product is a line of
tures children’s clothing.
spring/summer one-piece seersucker outﬁts decorated with
applique´ s of hearts, ﬂowers, fruits, and the like. A number
of chain stores, including JCPenney, sell this line of clothing
under contract with Samara.

Petitioner Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is one of the Nation’s
best known retailers, selling among other things children’s
clothing.
In 1995, Wal-Mart contracted with one of its sup-
pliers, Judy-Philippine, Inc., to manufacture a line of chil-
dren’s outﬁts for sale in the 1996 spring/summer season.
Wal-Mart sent Judy-Philippine photographs of a number of
garments from Samara’s line, on which Judy-Philippine’s gar-
ments were to be based; Judy-Philippine duly copied, with

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were ﬁled for the International
Mass Retail Association by Jeffrey S. Sutton and Robert J. Verdisco; for
the Private Label Manufacturers Association by Arthur M. Handler; and
for Scott P. Zimmerman by Charles W. Calkins.

H. Bartow Farr III, Richard G. Taranto, and Stephen M. Trattner ﬁled
a brief for Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc., et al. as amici curiae urg-
ing afﬁrmance.

Briefs of amici curiae were ﬁled for the American Intellectual Property
Law Association by Sheldon H. Klein, Michael A. Grow, and Louis T.
Pirkey; for the International Trademark Association by Theodore H.
Davis, Jr., Morton D. Goldberg, and Marie V. Driscoll; and for Payless
Shoesource, Inc., by William A. Rudy and Robert Kent Sellers.