Rounding the Corner on Trade Dress

Abstract

Judge Richard Cudahy 's dissenting opinion in the 1993 trade dress case, Kohler Co. v. Moen Inc., dealt with the importance of the "right to copy " unpatented designs. This Essay argues that this opinion foreshadowed the Supreme Court's recent shift away from an overly simplistic view of intellectual property as the sole engine of innovation to a renewed understanding of the interplay between property and competition as innovation drivers.