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Suggest pagesFunctionality doctrine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
| Intellectual property law |
|---|
| Primary rights |
| Copyright · authors' rights · related rights · moral rights · patent · utility model · trademark · geographical indication · trade secret |
| Sui generis rights |
| Database right · indigenous intellectual property · industrial design right · mask work · plant breeders' rights · supplementary protection certificate |
| Related topics |
| Societal views · orphan works · public domain · more |
In trademark law, the functionality doctrine prevents manufacturers from protecting specific features of a product by means of trademark law. This separates trademarks from patents — trademarks serve to protect a firm's reputation and goodwill, whereas patents serve to protect processes, machines, and material inventions.
If a feature gives a producer a competitive advantage which is not related entirely to its function as a brand identifier, then it cannot be trademarked. The rationale behind this doctrine is that product markets would not be truly competitive if newcomers could not make product with a feature that consumers demand.
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