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How Can I Protect the Look and Feel of My Website?

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Seal, symbolizing trade dress and design patent protection of website look and feel

This post discusses whether and how you can protect your website’s “look and feel.

The reason you would want such protection: Your website has particularly effective visual and interactive elements that help promote your business. You would not want another website to copy those elements, thus make your website and your business less special.

Look and Feel as Trade Dress

Look and feel falls in the category of trade dress, i.e., visual appearance that signifies the source of a product or service. You may be able to obtain a federal trademark registration for the non-functional elements of the website’s look and feel and bring suit against infringers based on that registration. (more…)