Opinion ID: 740489
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Protectable--inherent distinction.

Text: 15 Prior to the decision of the Supreme Court in Two Pesos, this court required a plaintiff to prove that its trade dress had acquired secondary meaning to obtain protection under the Lanham Act. See Murphy v. Provident Mut. Life Ins. Co., 923 F.2d 923, 927 (2d Cir.1990). Two Pesos, accepting without discussion that the decor of the plaintiff's chain of Mexican restaurants was distinctive, 505 U.S. at 770, 112 S.Ct. at 2758, held that inherently distinctive trade dress could be protected under federal law without proof of secondary meaning, but did not address the legal standard that should be employed to measure the inherent distinctiveness of trade dress. The Court, thus, left us and the other lower courts with the difficult task of constructing such a standard. 16 Judge Friendly's familiar test for the inherent distinctiveness of trademarks in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., 537 F.2d 4, 11 (2d Cir.1976) appeared a natural recourse. The Abercrombie test classifies verbal marks into four categories which run in a continuum: (1) generic, (2) descriptive, (3) suggestive, and (4) arbitrary or fanciful. Generic words or phrases may never serve as trademarks; descriptive marks, while not inherently distinctive, may be trademarks upon a showing of secondary meaning; and suggestive, arbitrary and fanciful terms are inherently distinctive trademarks even without a showing of secondary meaning. 17 Yet, as we observed in Knitwaves, it does not make sense to apply the Abercrombie test directly to product design or configuration cases. Knitwaves, 71 F.3d at 1007. We agreed with the Third Circuit that, in contrast to verbal marks, one cannot meaningfully ask whether a product's design features are generic or otherwise descriptive of the product itself, but we declined to follow that circuit's application of a wholly-new, multi-pronged test to product design and configuration cases under § 43(a). Id. at 1009 n. 6 (discussing Duraco Prods., Inc. v. Joy Plastic Enters., Ltd., 40 F.3d 1431 (3d Cir.1994)). Instead, we simply asked whether the design was likely to be understood as an indicator of the product's source. Knitwaves, 71 F.3d at 1008. The autumnal pattern on the front of plaintiff Knitwaves's sweaters was not indicative of source, and, thus, did not warrant protection as trade dress under federal law. We drew this requirement from what [the Court] called, in Qualitex, 'the more important part of the statutory definition of a trademark'--the requirement 'that a person us[e] or inten[d] to use the mark to identify and distinguish his or her goods ... from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. '  Id. (quoting Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Prods. Co., 514 U.S. 159, ----, 115 S.Ct. 1300, 1303, 131 L.Ed.2d 248 (1995) (quoting 15 U.S.C. § 1127)). 3 18 Very recently, we distinguished Knitwaves and held that the Abercrombie test will still be applied to measure the distinctiveness of a product's packaging in trade dress cases under the Lanham Act. Fun-Damental Too, Ltd. v. Gemmy Indus. Corp., 111 F.3d 993, 1000-01 (2d Cir.1997), concerned the intentional copying of several aspects of a box used to contain and display the Toilet Bank, a novelty coin bank, by the manufacturer of a similar novelty product, the Currency Can. The decision distinguished product packaging trade dress cases from product configuration cases, such as Knitwaves and the case at bar, for several reasons: First, we expressly held in Paddington Corp. v. Attiki Importers & Distribs., Inc., 996 F.2d 577, 583 (2d Cir.1993), that Abercrombie applies to product packaging cases. Fun-Damental Too, 111 F.3d at 1000-01. Second, while it is difficult to define some aspect of a product's design or configuration in terms of the Abercrombie categories, a product's packaging style creates an image of the product more readily separated from the product itself. And, although there may be a finite set of ways to configure a product, the variety of packaging available for a given product is limited only by the bounds of imagination. Id. at 1000-01. Third, applying Abercrombie to product packaging serves the aims of the Lanham Act because consumers are more likely to rely on the packaging of a product than on the product's design as an indication of source. Id. at 1001 (citing Restatement § 16 cmt. b). For these reasons, Fun-Damental Too limited Knitwaves to its facts, and held that only when trade dress is claimed in the configuration or design of the product itself will the test for inherent distinction be whether the claimed dress is likely to serve as a source designator. 19 The case at bar clearly falls under Knitwaves as it concerns only the design of a series of products, not their packaging. Nonetheless, we digress momentarily to discuss Knitwaves and Fun-Damental Too in light of the purpose of the Lanham Act. We do so because we are concerned that the district courts may be unnecessarily confused by the two cases, which appear to divide the federal law of trade dress into two distinct realms, each with its own test for inherent distinction. We are not so confident that the Abercrombie analysis is more naturally fit for direct application to product packaging cases than configuration cases, but we nevertheless agree with the differences noted in Fun-Damental Too between packaging and configuration cases. Indeed, judging from that decision, this circuit appears to be moving toward a rule that packaging is usually indicative of a product's source, while the design or configuration of the product is usually not so. See 111 F.3d at 1000 ([T]he varieties of labels and packaging available to wholesalers and manufacturers are virtually unlimited. As a consequence, a product's trade dress typically will be arbitrary or fanciful and meet the inherently distinctive requirement for § 43(a) protection.) (citations omitted). Neither principle is hard and fast, and analysis will always require a look at the product and the market in which it competes. For example, in Mana Prods., Inc. v. Columbia Cosmetics Mfg., Inc., 65 F.3d 1063, 1070 (2d Cir.1995), we held that black, compact containers for cosmetics were so common in that industry as to be generic and, hence, not protectable. Application of these principles will also be complicated by the fact that it may at times be difficult to say exactly where a product stops and its packaging begins; this was arguably the case in Mana Prods. where the makeup compact, which is not discarded after purchase, could be considered to be either the product or part of its packaging. 20 Whether or not the Abercrombie analysis is employed, the Lanham Act must be construed in the light of a strong federal policy in favor of vigorously competitive markets, which is exemplified by the Sherman Act and other anti-trust laws. This fundamental principle is reflected in decisions holding that federal patent law preempts state unfair competition laws that limit competitors' use of inventions in the public domain. See, e.g., Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc., 376 U.S. 234, 84 S.Ct. 779, 11 L.Ed.2d 669 (1964); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Stiffel Co., 376 U.S. 225, 84 S.Ct. 784, 11 L.Ed.2d 661 (1964). While the Lanham Act is not preempted by other federal statutes in the same way as was the state law in Sears and Compco, section 43(a) complements the federal policy favoring competition. Congress recognized that a trademark aids competition in the marketplace because it helps a consumer distinguish among competing products. Trademarks also encourage producers to maintain a high quality product by assuring that any goodwill associated with their products is not misappropriated by competitors. Fun-Damental Too, 111 F.3d at 999 (citing S.Rep. No. 79-1333 (1946), reprinted in 1946 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1274, 1275). The functionality defense, moreover, by denying an otherwise valid claim of trade dress infringement if its recognition would create an unwarranted monopoly, protects competition even at the cost of potential consumer confusion. See Qualitex, 514 U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1306; Inwood Lab., Inc. v. Ives Lab., Inc., 456 U.S. 844, 850 n. 10, 102 S.Ct. 2182, 2187 n. 10, 72 L.Ed.2d 606 (1982); Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co., 305 U.S. 111, 122, 59 S.Ct. 109, 115, 83 L.Ed. 73 (1938). 21 A similar concern for the protection of competition informs the initial stage of the analysis of a claim of trademark or trade dress infringement, i.e., determination of whether a mark, packaging or product design qualifies for protection. The Abercrombie analysis illustrates this underlying concern of the Lanham Act: Generic terms cannot be protected because, inter alia, competitors need them to describe their products to consumers. Id. at 9 ([T]he user of a generic term ... cannot deprive competing manufacturers of the product of the right to call an article by its name.). And, on the other end of the spectrum, arbitrary or fanciful words and phrases may be appropriated by a single producer without depriving others of a means of describing their products to the market. Cf. Paddington, 996 F.2d at 584 (liquor bottle label was per se distinctive because design elements were selected from an almost limitless supply of patterns, colors and designs). The Abercrombie test, thus, permits courts to separate those cases in which similar marks are most likely to mislead consumers from those in which trademark protection would create a linguistic monopoly which would stifle competitors' efforts to market similar goods to consumers. 22 The policy of protecting competition is at least as strongly implicated when, as in the present case, product designs or configurations are claimed as trade dress. While trademarking a generic term would create a monopoly in a necessary word or phrase, granting trade dress protection to an ordinary product design would create a monopoly in the goods themselves. For this reason, courts have exercised particular caution when extending protection to product designs. Jeffrey Milstein, 58 F.3d at 32. Accordingly, we think that our decision in Knitwaves was consistent with the policy of Abercrombie, which is to accord protection to symbols consumers are likely to rely upon in distinguishing goods, while denying protection that would hamper efforts to market competitive goods. Viewed in this light, the difference between Knitwaves and Fun-Damental Too is not great, as both tests seek answers to the same questions in aid of advancing the same underlying policy. 23 Judge Newman articulated similar concerns in Jeffrey Milstein. Jeffrey Milstein declined to extend trade dress protection to a series of greeting cards with  'straight-on, strong photographic, glossy images of animals, persons or objects on die-cut cards....'  58 F.3d at 33 (citation omitted). In rejecting this claim for protection of an idea or concept that is too broad or too general to warrant protection, Judge Newman made two points pertinent to the present appeal: first, overextension of trade dress protection can undermine restrictions in copyright and patent law that are designed to avoid monopolization of products and ideas; and [s]econd, just as copyright law does not protect ideas but only their concrete expression, neither does trade dress law protect an idea, a concept, or a generalized type of appearance. Id. at 32. 24 Jeffrey Milstein also demonstrates that a trade dress plaintiff seeking to protect a series or line of products faces the particularly difficult challenge of showing that the appearance of its several products is sufficiently distinct and unique to merit protection as a recognizable trade dress. Compare Walt Disney Co. v. Goodtimes Home Video Corp., 830 F.Supp. 762, 766 (S.D.N.Y.1993) (discussing the special burden when claim is for the overall look of a number of different packages) with Harlequin Enters. Ltd. v. Gulf & Western Corp., 644 F.2d 946, 948 (2d Cir.1981) (every book in the Harlequin Presents series is uniform in its dimensions, cover design and colophon). Furthermore, a claim of trade dress covering an array of items is likely to be broader than one for an individual product's design. Accordingly, when protection is sought for an entire line of products, our concern for protecting competition is acute. Cf. Wallace, 916 F.2d at 81-82 (claim of trade dress in baroque-style decorations on silverware conflicted with the aesthetic functionality doctrine, because it was too broad). 25 Saying this, we still recognize that there is no question that trade dress may protect the overall look of a product. See Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. McNeil-P.P.C., Inc., 973 F.2d 1033, 1042 (2d Cir.1992). Thus, [a]lthough each element of a trade dress individually might not be inherently distinctive, ... the combination of elements may be indicative of source. Jeffrey Milstein, 58 F.3d at 32. Nonetheless, focus on the overall look of a product does not permit a plaintiff to dispense with an articulation of the specific elements which comprise its distinct dress. Without such a precise expression of the character and scope of the claimed trade dress, litigation will be difficult, as courts will be unable to evaluate how unique and unexpected the design elements are in the relevant market. Courts will also be unable to shape narrowly-tailored relief if they do not know what distinctive combination of ingredients deserves protection. Moreover, a plaintiff's inability to explain to a court exactly which aspects of its product design(s) merit protection may indicate that its claim is pitched at an improper level of generality, i.e., the claimant seeks protection for an unprotectable style, theme or idea. 26 Under this test, Landscape has not articulated and supported its claimed trade dress with sufficient particularity. Averring that it seeks protection for a specific expression of site furniture ..., Landscape now explains to this court: The Petoskey trade dress incorporates large three-inch tubing, with a powdered cosmetic finish, bent in gentle turns that roll around the perimeter of the furniture which in combination with the various seating surfaces gives the viewer a floating or suspended feeling. The complaint, which takes aim at Columbia's copying of Landscape's products, contains no similar description of the alleged dress. Paragraph 11 states [t]he product design and configuration of [Landscape's] Petoskeys Group Collection employs a number of distinctive elements which, when taken together, constitute a trade dress recognizable by architects, landscape architects and designers, as well as the public at large. The distinctive elements are not enumerated. 27 A statement by Landscape's attorney and testimony from some witnesses started to articulate the unique qualities of the company's line of products. In her opening statement, Landscape's attorney explained: 28 The furniture has been described as actually floating or suspended. It incorporates large, round 3-inch-diameter pipes which are bended and curved-- 29 .... 30 giving it a wavelike effect. It uses rods for its seating, round rods, and in some cases uses perforated metal in the seating to give a see-through effect. 31 William Main, Landscape's President, added: 32 The Petoskey [line] gets a lot of its look from the bold tube, powder coated tube that comes up from the ground and kind of flows around, bends and flows around the back of the bench of the litter receptacle, and there is a series of different materials that can be placed in that support to sit on, that have kind of a floating feel. The look is kind of cantilevered, and it is very unexpected. 33 And, at the remand hearing, Arno Yurk, an industrial designer at Landscape, testified: 34 There's a lot of curves and soft corners that go on. There's a lot of structural heft when you look at it. It seems to float in this rather heavy-looking framework, and I think in that regard all the pieces seem to tie together, the common thread being, in my mind, that very heavy structure that sort of lets the elements float inside of there. 35 Others echoed Yurk's sentiment that the Petoskey furniture is substantial yet appears light. Indeed, the photographs of the furniture capture this pleasantly paradoxical feel of some of Landscape's benches. 36 Yet, these and the many other similarly laudatory descriptions in the record fail to indicate what unique combination of features makes the trade dress of the ten items in the Petoskey line inherently distinctive under the Knitwaves test, i.e., likely to be perceived by consumers as bearing the stamp of their maker. A claim for site furniture which is at once massive, yet appears to float, is too abstract to qualify as trade dress for the reasons discussed in Jeffrey Milstein. If the law protected style at such a level of abstraction, Braque might have prevented Picasso from selling cubist paintings in the United States. 37 Tellingly, the more detailed parts of the above descriptions apply to some, but not all, of the ten items in the Petoskey line. Three of the six benches with backs are supported by two legs made from a single pipe which flows around the perimeter and are thus cantilevered. The trash cans, backless benches, and three-legged benches, however, do not readily fit that description. For example, the two, rather pedestrian U shaped tubes, which attach to either end of the backless benches for support, cannot be said to flow in the same way as the tubes on any of the benches with backs. The use of bent, three-inch pipe or tube is one element of the designs which arguably unites them, yet this feature alone cannot support Landscape's broad claim for trade dress protection. First, one of the two trash cans includes no such pipe. Second, as just mentioned, not all the benches use the bent pipe in the same way, or to the same effect. Third, and most importantly, even Landscape's president testified that bent tubes are commonly used in outdoor furniture. Our browse through the portions of industry catalogs included in the record confirms this admission. Accordingly, we do not think that this design element alone can qualify the entire Petoskey line as inherently distinctive trade dress. 38 In sum, Landscape's proof at the proceedings below did not focus on the specific features of its line of furniture that the company claims as trade dress. Without more exacting analysis, any new product--particularly a successful one--could conceivably qualify as inherently distinctive. Landscape's failure is especially troubling because it sought to protect an entire array of products. We hold that the district court exceeded its decision-making authority when it concluded that Landscape demonstrated that its Petoskey line of products could be protected as trade dress without proof of secondary meaning. None of which is to say that we disagree with the proposition expressed some years ago in a concurring opinion of Justices White and Marshall that [t]he use of a product or package design that is so similar to that of another producer that it is likely to confuse purchasers as to the product's source may constitute 'false designation of origin'.... Inwood Lab., 456 U.S. at 863, 102 S.Ct. at 2193 (White, J., concurring). We think, however, that Landscape has yet to articulate what makes its products inherently distinctive such that, without proof of secondary meaning, there is reason to believe that confusion is likely. 39