Non-traditional trademarks

The Wall Street Journal reports that earlier this year Apple received a trademark for the three dimensional shape of the iPod. These kind of non-traditional trademarks are hard to get, but the Journal offers a handy, five-step plan for getting one of your own.

It's easy to think of these sort of exercises in defending intellectual property as solely the work of lawyers, but as the article neatly points out, design and marketing play huge roles. The value of a non-traditional trademark?

"Market research has shown that such trademarkeable design cues can promote brand recall and spur sales."

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